The purpose of the current research is to synthesize and analyze the available literature on the mental health of Sikh American adolescents, addressing gaps and proposing areas of further research. It assesses and compares perceptions of mental health in both Asian Indian and Sikh demographics, as the majority of Sikhs are ethnically Asian Indian. The research is also intended to supplement the current understanding of mental health in the Sikh community with a discussion on the culturally-based risk and protective factors for mental health and Western mental health care access.

Religion has a powerful influence on adherents' behaviors and beliefs. Harmful teachings about gender roles, sexual purity, and a lack of education surrounding sexual abuse have been shown to negatively impact members’ understandings of these topics. This study looks into these relationships in further detail by surveying adults who are either active and ex-members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about their recollections of religious principles they learned in their Young Men’s/Women’s classes, their behaviors as youth (ages 12-18), and their current beliefs. Findings indicate that teachings and cultural expectations in regard to gender roles exist in The Church, and many female members disagree with and refuse to comply with them. Purity culture impacted participants in differing ways, including their continued belief in sexual purity before marriage but their disapproval of shaming sexually experienced members. Findings indicate that The Church does not educate members on sexual abuse and consent, but participants still indicated knowledge of these topics. Implications include continued study into these topics to better understand conflicting responses and complicated relationships between members’ beliefs and Church teachings, and changes in Church doctrine to better support members and victims of abuse.

The study investigated unconscious biases in physicians regarding conflicts in developing care plans for patients related to religious restrictions in medicine. Fourteen physicians were interviewed to discuss their experiences with these patients and find patterns and factors that could lead to more negative attitudes from the physicians in the patient’s care. It was found that the gender, religious background, and location of residency had various impacts on the attitude of the physician regarding a religious concern; however, there was no outstanding demographic that led to a comparatively negative attitude. Additionally, the type of reasoning a patient used related to a religious concern had an impact on the attitude of the physician, and this was due to the logic and duration of the concern as well as the attitude of the patient. These factors and patient cases were thoroughly analyzed and discussed throughout the paper to shed light on possible factors that could negatively affect the patient’s care.

Social media is a tool widely used by many organizations for purposes of spreading ideas, influencing users politically, and promoting products for purchase. Among the ideas spread on social media is religious belief, a task undertaken by religious officials and members alike, in both widespread and personal communication. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has promoted its religion online for years through official webpages and the testimonies of members, but now seeks to spread knowledge of its beliefs and increase membership by involving its full-time missionaries on Facebook and Instagram. The initiative to add online-proselytizing to a missionary’s list of duties began in 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been through multiple changes to arrive at the present function of social media in full-time missionary work. Despite these positive changes, missionaries still feel that they lack the necessary knowledge and skills to conduct productive conversations online that lead to opportunities to share their message. Two separate missions are analyzed through Bolman & Deal’s Four Frames to gain a complete perspective of missionary work through social media and how it can be improved. By implementing visual symbols that relate to the importance of social media missionary work and increasing the social media training that missionaries receive, they would feel better prepared to host conversations on online platforms and share their messages. Additionally, by updating the leadership position associated with social media in a mission, more missionaries would ultimately gain expertise in this skill and better fulfill their purpose as missionaries.

The relationship between science and religion in the modern day is complex to the point that the lines between them are often blurred. We have a need to distinguish the two from each-other for a variety of practical reasons. Various philosophies, theories, and tests have been suggested on the interaction between the two and how they are subdivided. One of the sets of criteria which has been shown to work was originally introduced in the opinion of Judge Overton in the case of McLean v Arkansas. McLean v Arkansas is a pivotal case in that it gave us a useful definition of what science is and isn’t in the context of the law. It used the already established Lemon test to show what counts as the establishment of religion. Given the distinction by Judge Overton, there are questions as to whether or not there is even overlap or tension between science and religion, such as in the theory of Stephen Jay Gould’s Nonoverlapping Magisteria (NOMA). What we find in this thesis is that the NOMA principle is doubtful at best. Through the discussion of McLean v. Arkansas, NOMA, and the commentaries of Professors Larry Laudan and Michael Ruse, this thesis develops a contextualization principle that can be used as a guide to develop further theories, particularly regarding the divisions between science and religion.