Sex, Love, & Dating During the COVID-19 Pandemic is a creative thesis project that addresses two main issues: 1) the overall lack of resources and information available to the public about how to proceed with respect to sex, love, and dating during a global pandemic; and 2) my inability as director of Devils in the Bedroom (an on-campus sexual health club at ASU) to get condoms and other sexual health materials into the hands of students while in quarantine. A resource was developed, an informational pamphlet on the three main topics (sex, love, and dating), as well as a program to distribute the materials by mail, the sexual health care packages.

This study attempts to answer the following questions: Is civic engagement a social activity among 18-25-year-old college students? How are opinions regarding civic and political engagement impacted by social settings? How are civic and political engagement atmospheres impacted by social distancing and isolation protocol? In this study, the researcher hypothesized that civic and political engagement are social activities, so they are therefore susceptible to changing social context. Since the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted typical social interaction through social distancing and isolation protocol, the researcher hypothesized that it also altered mechanisms of civic and political engagement. Political engagement would be more prevalent among students who participate with others even in pandemic conditions that may otherwise decrease close contact and social interactions. These findings seem to disagree with the literature that suggests young people are supplanting voting with other forms of engagement (Zukin et al., 2006). Rather, the “complexity” denoted in interviews and in reports of engagements on the pre- and post-election surveys suggests that young people are voting as well as dedicating their time to other activities. Voting does seem to be a social activity according to the interviews, poll observations, and the surveys. This is consistent with the literature regarding social norms and group predictors. However, this social aspect of engagement seems to manifest in a wider variety of formats that originally thought. Finally, students continued to engage in the context of the pandemic that surrounded the election in question. It seems that the formats through which students engaged have expanded to maintain the connections that are crucial to civic participation.

The present study explored the relationship between desired purchasing behavior and individual differences using two nationally-representative, longitudinal samples of the U.S. population early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Past research has shown that individual differences provide information about how one might respond to threat. Therefore, we predicted changes in desired purchasing behavior across different sociodemographic variables that might reflect those differences. Specifically, we investigated hypotheses related to political orientation, age, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and whether or not the participant had children. We measured participants’ reported desired purchasing behavior across eleven categories of goods and investigated the connection between specific demographic variables and desired purchasing behavior. We found that conservatives desired to purchase more basic protection goods (guns/ammunition, cash, gas) and that older people desired to purchase more cleaning supplies and toiletries. These findings illustrate possible explanations for purchasing behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic and reveal directions for marketing designed to influence purchasing behavior.

This paper conducts an exploration of the election policy reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic within the United States. While living through and voting during the real-time events which took place during the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020, it soon became evident that there was not enough experience from earlier election emergencies to properly ensure against voter disenfranchisement. Given the scope of the global pandemic and the speed with which policymakers had to act, there was very little time to properly prepare. There was also great contention regarding the legitimacy of election methods proposed to alleviate in-person election concerns, such as mail-in voting. The political battle between those who believed COVID-19 to be a grave concern against those who did not consider COVID-19 to be a legitimate threat towards their livelihoods also affected policymaking decisions. Policymakers were forced into a corner, as they experienced criticism for not enough government action, as well as disapproval on the actual regulation that came to pass. This paper therefore aims to understand what factors led to the decisions which shaped the election policy which occurred as a reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic during the election year of 2020. This analysis is conducted by considering the following: prior election emergency policy; the development of reactive election policy in March, proactive policy established for the August and November elections; and a review of voter disenfranchisement which occurred due to COVID-19.

With a prison population that has grown to 1.4 million, an imprisonment rate of 419 per 100,000 U.S. residents, and a recidivism rate of 52.2% for males and 36.4% for females, the United States is facing a crisis. Currently, no sufficient measures have been taken by the United States to reduce recidivism. Attempts have been made, but they ultimately failed. Recently, however, there has been an increase in experimentation with the concept of teaching inmates basic computer skills to reduce recidivism. As labor becomes increasingly digitized, it becomes more difficult for inmates who spent a certain period away from technology to adapt and find employment. At the bare minimum, anybody entering the workforce must know how to use a computer and other technological appliances, even in the lowest-paid positions. By incorporating basic computer skills and coding educational programs within prisons, this issue can be addressed, since inmates would be better equipped to take on a more technologically advanced labor market.<br/>Additionally, thoroughly preparing inmates for employment is a necessity because it has been proven to reduce recidivism. Prisons typically have some work programs; however, these programs are typically outdated and prepare inmates for fields that may represent a difficult employment market moving forward. On the other hand, preparing inmates for tech-related fields of work is proving to be successful in the early stages of experimentation. A reason for this success is the growing demand. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in computer and information technology occupations is projected to grow 11 percent between 2019 and 2029. This is noteworthy considering the national average for growth of all other jobs is only 4 percent. It also warrants the exploration of educating coders because software developers, in particular, have an expected growth rate of 22 percent between 2019 and 2029. <br/>Despite the security risks of giving inmates access to computers, the implementation of basic computer skills and coding in prisons should be explored further. Programs that give inmates access to a computing education already exist. The only issue with these programs is their scarcity. However, this is to no fault of their own, considering the complex nature and costs of running such a program. Accordingly, this leaves the opportunity for public universities to get involved. Public universities serve as perfect hosts because they are fully capable of leveraging the resources already available to them. Arizona State University, in particular, is a more than ideal candidate to spearhead such a program and serve as a model for other public universities to follow. Arizona State University (ASU) is already educating inmates in local Arizona prisons on subjects such as math and English through their PEP (Prison Education Programming) program.<br/>This thesis will focus on Arizona specifically and why this would benefit the state. It will also explain why Arizona State University is the perfect candidate to spearhead this kind of program. Additionally, it will also discuss why recidivism is detrimental and the reasons why formerly incarcerated individuals re-offend. Furthermore, it will also explore the current measures being taken in Arizona and their limitations. Finally, it will provide evidence for why programs like these tend to succeed and serve as a proposal to Arizona State University to create its own program using the provided framework in this thesis.

Divorce and custody decisions have profound effects on the children involved for years to come. Depending on the circumstances, level of conflict, and custody decision results, these repercussions can resonate all the way into adulthood (D'Onofrio, 2019). This explorative qualitative study focuses on three young adults at or under the age of twenty-six whose parents divorced when they were minors. Now as young adults, they can look back on the procedures and processes utilized during the time of divorce and after the initial custody arrangements to provide insight as to what did and did not work in their family’s situation. This study focuses on the child’s perspective to see what the most effective practices are when making these decisions, which can further be used to suggest ways to reform the current processes in family court rulings involving custody decisions. The research findings will be discussed in this paper to highlight key experiences that played a pivotal role in the way these individuals interpret their experiences.

Divorce and custody decisions have profound effects on the children involved for years to come. Depending on the circumstances, level of conflict, and custody decision results, these repercussions can resonate all the way into adulthood (D'Onofrio, 2019). This explorative qualitative study focuses on three young adults at or under the age of twenty-six whose parents divorced when they were minors. Now as young adults, they can look back on the procedures and processes utilized during the time of divorce and after the initial custody arrangements to provide insight as to what did and did not work in their family’s situation. This study focuses on the child’s perspective to see what the most effective practices are when making these decisions, which can further be used to suggest ways to reform the current processes in family court rulings involving custody decisions. The research findings will be discussed in this paper to highlight key experiences that played a pivotal role in the way these individuals interpret their experiences.

Divorce and custody decisions have profound effects on the children involved for years to come. Depending on the circumstances, level of conflict, and custody decision results, these repercussions can resonate all the way into adulthood (D'Onofrio, 2019). This explorative qualitative study focuses on three young adults at or under the age of twenty-six whose parents divorced when they were minors. Now as young adults, they can look back on the procedures and processes utilized during the time of divorce and after the initial custody arrangements to provide insight as to what did and did not work in their family’s situation. This study focuses on the child’s perspective to see what the most effective practices are when making these decisions, which can further be used to suggest ways to reform the current processes in family court rulings involving custody decisions. The research findings will be discussed in this paper to highlight key experiences that played a pivotal role in the way these individuals interpret their experiences.

Divorce and custody decisions have profound effects on the children involved for years to come. Depending on the circumstances, level of conflict, and custody decision results, these repercussions can resonate all the way into adulthood (D'Onofrio, 2019). This explorative qualitative study focuses on three young adults at or under the age of twenty-six whose parents divorced when they were minors. Now as young adults, they can look back on the procedures and processes utilized during the time of divorce and after the initial custody arrangements to provide insight as to what did and did not work in their family’s situation. This study focuses on the child’s perspective to see what the most effective practices are when making these decisions, which can further be used to suggest ways to reform the current processes in family court rulings involving custody decisions. The research findings will be discussed in this paper to highlight key experiences that played a pivotal role in the way these individuals interpret their experiences.

Divorce and custody decisions have profound effects on the children involved for years to come. Depending on the circumstances, level of conflict, and custody decision results, these repercussions can resonate all the way into adulthood (D'Onofrio, 2019). This explorative qualitative study focuses on three young adults at or under the age of twenty-six whose parents divorced when they were minors. Now as young adults, they can look back on the procedures and processes utilized during the time of divorce and after the initial custody arrangements to provide insight as to what did and did not work in their family’s situation. This study focuses on the child’s perspective to see what the most effective practices are when making these decisions, which can further be used to suggest ways to reform the current processes in family court rulings involving custody decisions. The research findings will be discussed in this paper to highlight key experiences that played a pivotal role in the way these individuals interpret their experiences.