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Description
Cognitive reappraisal, or redefining the meaning of a stressful circumstance, is useful in regulating emotional responses to acute stressors and may be mobilized to up- or down- regulate the stressors’ emotional salience. A conceptually-related but more targeted emotion regulation strategy to that offered by cognitive reappraisal, termed positive cognitive shift, was examined in the current study. Positive cognitive shift (“PCS”) is defined as a point of cognitive transformation during a chronic, stressful situation that alters the meaning and emotional salience of the situation for the individual. Key aspects of the PCS that differentiate it from the broader reappraisal construct are that it 1) is relevant to responses to chronic (versus acute) aversive events, 2) is deployed when there is a mismatch between coping and stressors, and 3) involves insight together with redefinition in meaning of the situation generating stress. The current study used qualitative and quantitative analyses to 1) examine whether PCS is an observable, reliable, and valid experience in response to a stressful event that occurred in the past year, and 2) test whether PCS moderates the relations between the number of past-year stressful life circumstances and subsequent emotional well-being and functional health. A community sample of 175 middle-aged individuals were interviewed regarded a past chronic stressor and completed questionnaires regarding number of past year stressors and health outcomes. Theory-based coding of interviews was conducted to derive reliable scores for PCS, and findings indicated that PCS was evident in 37.7 % of participant responses. Furthermore, PCS scores were related positively to openness, personal growth from one’s most difficult lifetime event, and affect intensity-calm, in line with predictions. Also in line with prediction, PCS moderated the relations between number of past-year life events and health outcomes, such that the deleterious relations between past year stressful events and cognitive functioning, wellbeing, positive affect, and negative affect were weaker among individuals higher versus lower in PCS. Of note, PCS moderation effects diminished as the number of stressful events increased.
ContributorsRivers, Crystal (Author) / Davis, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Luecken, Linda (Committee member) / Infurna, Frank (Committee member) / Robinson Kurpius, Sharon (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
The current study examined the unique influence of emotional childhood abuse on positive and negative aspects of different types of social relationships (e.g., family, spouse/partner, and friends) in midlife and whether genetic variations of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) moderated these associations. Genetic variations in OXTR are measured by single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which have been the most substantially studied prospects for explaining individual differences in socio-behavioral phenotypes. Specifically, an SNP, rs53576, involving a guanine (G) to adenine (A) substitution located in the third intron of the OXTR has been associated with fundamental aspects of social processes and behaviors. Compared to A carriers, individuals homozygous for the G allele have enhanced social competencies and tend to elicit more positive responses from social partners, consequently increasing the overall quality of social relationships across the lifespan. However, the G allele of the OXTR has also been associated with greater social sensitivity. In the current study, conducted among a sample of 614 adults in midlife, it was shown that emotional childhood abuse was significantly associated with having less supportive and more strained relationships in midlife. Regarding supportive family relationships, the effect of emotional childhood abuse was moderated by the OXTR rs53576 polymorphism. Specifically, under conditions of more emotional abuse in childhood, individuals homozygous for the G allele had more supportive family relationships in midlife compared to A carriers. Overall, the findings suggest that genetic variations of OXTR rs53576 may be an important candidate in understanding the development of social relationship functioning within the context of negative early life experiences.
ContributorsEbbert, Ashley Marie (Author) / Infurna, Frank (Thesis advisor) / Corbin, William (Committee member) / Lemery, Kathryn (Committee member) / Luthar, Suniya (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
The transition out of high school is a major milestone for adolescents as they earn greater autonomy and responsibilities. An estimated 69.2% of adolescents enroll in higher education immediately following high school completion, including increasing numbers of Latino adolescents (National Center for Education Statistics, 2016). Integrative model (García Coll et al., 1996) suggests a need for research on promotive and protective contextual factors for ethnic minority children and adolescents. Guided by the model, the proposed research will explore a salient Latino cultural value, familism, and family communication as predictors of changes in depressive symptoms from high school to university among Latino adolescents (N = 209; 35.6% male; Mage=17.59, SD=.53). Furthermore, sleep, a key bioregulatory mechanism, was explored as a potential moderator of these processes (Dahl & El-Sheikh, 2007). On average, familism values were not associated with college depressive symptoms, but family communication was significantly negatively associated with college depressive symptoms. Neither sleep duration nor sleep problems significantly moderated the association between familism values and college depressive symptom. Patterns were similar for family communication. The interaction between sleep problems and familism-support values were significantly associated with college depressive symptoms. However, when simple slopes were probed, none were significant.
ContributorsPark, HyeJung (Author) / Doane, Leah (Thesis advisor) / Infurna, Frank (Committee member) / Updegraff, Kimberly (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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
Genocide studies have traditionally focused on the perpetrator’s intent to eradicate a particular identity-based group, using the Holocaust as their model and point of comparison. Although some aspects of the Holocaust were undoubtedly unique, recent scholars have sought to challenge the notion that it was a singular phenomenon. Instead, they draw attention to a recurring pattern of genocidal events throughout history by shifting the focus from intent to structure. One particular branch of scholars seeks to connect the ideology and tactics of imperialism with certain genocidal events. These anti-imperialist genocide scholars concede that their model cannot account for all genocides, but still claim that it creates meaningful connections between genocides committed by Western colonialist powers and those that have occurred in a neoimperialist world order shaped according to Western interests. The latter includes genocides in postcolonial states, which these scholars believe were shaped by the scars of their colonial past, as well as genocides in which imperial hegemons assisted local perpetrators. Imperialist and former colonial powers have contributed meaningfully to all of these kinds of genocides, yet their contributions have largely been ignored due to their own influence on the creation of the current international order. Incorporating the anti-imperialist perspective into the core doctrine of genocide studies may lead to breakthroughs in areas of related policy and practice, such as prevention and accountability.
ContributorsParker, Ashleigh Mae (Author) / Thies, Cameron (Thesis director) / Sivak, Henry (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Political polarization is the coalescence of political parties -- and the individuals of which parties are composed -- around opposing ends of the ideological spectrum. Political parties in the United States have always been divided, however, in recent years this division has only intensified. Recently, polarization has also wound its way to the Supreme Court and the nomination processes of justices to the Court. This paper examines how prevalent polarization in the Supreme Court nomination process has become by looking specifically at the failed nomination of Judge Merrick Garland and the confirmations of now-Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. This is accomplished by comparing the ideologies and qualifications of the three most recent nominees to those of previous nominees, as well as analysing the ideological composition of the Senate at the times of the individual nominations.
ContributorsJoss, Jacob (Author) / Hoekstra, Valerie (Thesis director) / Critchlow, Donald (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Many factors are at play within the genome of an organism, contributing to much of the diversity and variation across the tree of life. While the genome is generally encoded by four nucleotides, A, C, T, and G, this code can be expanded. One particular mechanism that we examine in this thesis is modification of bases—more specifically, methylation of Adenine (m6A) within the GATC motif of Escherichia coli. These methylated adenines are especially important in a process called methyl-directed mismatch repair (MMR), a pathway responsible for repairing errors in the DNA sequence produced by replication. In this pathway, methylated adenines identify the parent strand and direct the repair proteins to correct the erroneous base in the daughter strand. While the primary role of methylated adenines at GATC sites is to direct the MMR pathway, this methylation has also been found to affect other processes, such as gene expression, the activity of transposable elements, and the timing of DNA replication. However, in the absence of MMR, the ability of these other processes to maintain adenine methylation and its targets is unknown.
To determine if the disruption of the MMR pathway results in the reduced conservation of methylated adenines as well as an increased tolerance for mutations that result in the loss or gain of new GATC sites, we surveyed individual clones isolated from experimentally evolving wild-type and MMR-deficient (mutL- ;conferring an 150x increase in mutation rate) populations of E. coli with whole-genome sequencing. Initial analysis revealed a lack of mutations affecting methylation sites (GATC tetranucleotides) in wild-type clones. However, the inherent low mutation rates conferred by the wild-type background render this result inconclusive, due to a lack of statistical power, and reveal a need for a more direct measure of changes in methylation status. Thus as a first step to comparative methylomics, we benchmarked four different methylation-calling pipelines on three biological replicates of the wildtype progenitor strain for our evolved populations.
While it is understood that these methylated sites play a role in the MMR pathway, it is not fully understood the full extent of their effect on the genome. Thus the goal of this thesis was to better understand the forces which maintain the genome, specifically concerning m6A within the GATC motif.
To determine if the disruption of the MMR pathway results in the reduced conservation of methylated adenines as well as an increased tolerance for mutations that result in the loss or gain of new GATC sites, we surveyed individual clones isolated from experimentally evolving wild-type and MMR-deficient (mutL- ;conferring an 150x increase in mutation rate) populations of E. coli with whole-genome sequencing. Initial analysis revealed a lack of mutations affecting methylation sites (GATC tetranucleotides) in wild-type clones. However, the inherent low mutation rates conferred by the wild-type background render this result inconclusive, due to a lack of statistical power, and reveal a need for a more direct measure of changes in methylation status. Thus as a first step to comparative methylomics, we benchmarked four different methylation-calling pipelines on three biological replicates of the wildtype progenitor strain for our evolved populations.
While it is understood that these methylated sites play a role in the MMR pathway, it is not fully understood the full extent of their effect on the genome. Thus the goal of this thesis was to better understand the forces which maintain the genome, specifically concerning m6A within the GATC motif.
ContributorsBoyer, Gwyneth (Author) / Lynch, Michael (Thesis director) / Behringer, Megan (Committee member) / Geiler-Samerotte, Kerry (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
As the U.S. reckons with the reality of sexual assault and harassment in the wake of the #MeToo movement, it is particularly important to consider sexual assault in the military, an institution that is a massive employer and the face of the U.S. abroad. Media coverage is a catalyst for change, and the nature and scope of coverage is indicative of public and political attitudes. This thesis uses both quantitative and qualitative data to analyze characteristics of military sexual assault cases that complicate media coverage and to identify strengths and weaknesses of the media's approach to such stories. On the quantitative side, it takes advantage of nearly 600 case reports of sexual assault from U.S. military bases in Japan that were categorized to identify themes such as disposition outcomes, alcohol involvement and victim participation in investigations. Qualitatively, this thesis includes interviews with military officials, victims' advocates, journalists and other stakeholders that help to create a more holistic understanding of how media cover military sexual assault. Notably, this thesis finds that a lack of public interest in the military, a lack of congruency between military and civilian systems, and a highly complex hierarchy that limits journalists' access to military sources and data all complicate coverage. Drawing from these conclusions, it recommends that the media avoid episodic reporting, focus on personalizing stories in an institutional context, embrace accountability journalism and dedicate resources to pursuing complex investigations. It also acknowledges the important role of non-traditional media in the future of information sharing on the topic of military sexual assault.
ContributorsArmstrong, Mia Anne (Author) / Warner, Carolyn (Thesis director) / Gilger, Kristin (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This paper addresses policy solutions for the continuing medical education of providers treating LGBTQ patients. As a population subject to significant health disparities, LGBTQ individuals are at risk of discrimination and harm when entering the medical context and, as such, require particular provider competence in approaches to care. This population is also vulnerable to distinctive medical needs which often position individuals as patients, making clinical interactions a key component of equality in social contexts. Through literature review and policy analysis, this paper addresses how systemic inequality has been propagated in the medical community and suggests an intervention in developing critical CME materials and requirements which seek to promote provider knowledge of best practices for the treatment of LGBTQ individuals. The ultimate policy suggestion incorporates existing policy promulgated at the state and professional organization level to fully respond to the challenges of informing providers of best practice in a meaningful, practicable manner. This policy specifies the importance of mandatory content-based learning hour requirements, in order to ensure that all providers meet a minimum level of competency in providing care to minority and at-risk populations, particularly the LGBTQ population. Moreover, it encompasses an understanding of the role and importance of outside organizations with subject-area expertise and endows such organizations with the power to interact with the policy and curriculum formation process. In so doing, it addresses many of the underlying gaps in provider education on this critical issue and promotes equity in health outcomes for all patients. Keywords: LGBTQ health, continuing medical education, health policy
ContributorsBlessinger, Kayla Nicole (Author) / White, Adrienne (Thesis director) / Coplan, Bettie (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This paper emphasizes how vital prosthetic devices are as tools for both congenital and acquired amputees in order to maximize this population's level of societal productivity, but several issues exist with the current technological focus of development by the prosthetic industry that creates unnecessary hurdles that amputees must surpass in order to truly benefit from these tools. The first major issue is that these devices are not readily available to all amputees. The astronomical cost of most prosthetic devices is a variable that restricts low income amputee populations from obtaining these vital tools regardless of their level of need, thus highlighting the fact that amputees who are not financially stable are not supported in a fashion that is conducive to their success. Also, cost greatly affects children who suffer from a missing appendage due to the fact that they are in constant need of prosthetic replacement because of physical growth and development. Another issue with the current focus of the prosthetic industry is that it focuses on acquired amputees because this population is much larger in comparison to congenital amputees and thus more lucrative. Congenital amputees' particular needs are often entirely ignored in terms of prosthetic innovation. Finally, low daily utilization is a major issue amongst the amputee population. Several variables exist with the use of prosthetic devices that cause many amputees to decide against the utilization of these tools, like difficulty of use and lack of comfort. This paper will provide solutions to cost, discrimination, issues in development, and daily utilization by emphasizing on how lowering the cost through alternative designs and materials, transitioning the focus of technological development onto the entire amputee population rather than targeting the most lucrative group, and advancing the design in a fashion to which promotes daily utilization will provide the largest level of societal support, so that the amputee population as a whole can maximize their level of productivity in a manner that will allow this group to conquer the hardships that are introduced into their lives due to a missing appendage.
ContributorsO'Connor, Casey Charles (Author) / Popova, Laura (Thesis director) / Graff, Sarah (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Social Work (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05