Social and Behavioral Sciences

Alexandra Butler, University of Utah Social and Behavioral Sciences Utah’s policy of abstinence only sexual education is often discussed as a contentious issue. Some worry that, if not taught in school, young people will not obtain accurate information on sex, contraceptives, and sexually transmitted diseases. Others fear that talking about sex will encourage young people to have premarital sex, breaking norms of society. As a result sex education in Utah excludes essential issues like contraceptive use. However, with today’s technology providing easy information access to all matters, including sexuality, is policy concerning sexual education even a relevant concern? The central questions for this project are how young people in Utah today learn about sex, contraceptives, and STI’s, from whom they learn (school, parents, friends, internet etc.) and how accurate and compete is the information they gain. This was done through a series of qualitative open-ended interviews with Utah High School graduates ages 18 and older, equally representing both sexes. Later, answers from the interviews for key questions were coded for quantitative analysis on how Utah teens obtain their sexual education. This project has greater implications concerning what is taught in Utah sexual education classes. If most teens obtain accurate health information from outside sources, then sexual education classes could be utilized to focus on other areas of information, such as relationships. The information from this study may help educators to structure sex education courses in such a way as to fill the gaps and engage students in discussions that are appropriate and relevant for today’s changing society.

Thomas White and Jason Woodruff, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences Exercise has been shown to be an effective adjunct to therapy in combating depression symptoms (Josefsson, Lindwall, and Archer, 2014; Seime and Vickers, 2006; Stathopoulou, Powers, Berry, Smits, and Otto, 2006). However, it can be difficult to motivate individuals who experience depressive symptoms to begin and maintain an exercise routine (Seime and Vickers, 2006). Here we investigate which motivations might help those who demonstrate symptoms of depression to begin and maintain an exercise regimen. This study examined Frequency and Duration of exercise as well as motivation to exercise and relationship to scores on a Depression scale. A sample of 184 BYU undergraduate students taking psychology classes participated in the study. Controlling for gender, we collected data regarding participants’ current Depression symptoms, exercise regimens, and motivations for exercising (for Sociality, Competition, and Fitness). Multiple regression analyses showed Duration and Frequency of exercise were negatively correlated with Depression. Furthermore, motivation for Fitness was positively correlated with Depression scores and Competition was negatively correlated with Depression scores. We also found that Motivation for Sociality was negatively correlated with Depression scores. We explore possible reasons for these findings. Overall, we show that Sociality and Competition may be the most potent motivators in helping college students maintain motivation to exercise. To our knowledge, there are few studies that have examined motivation to exercise in junction with depression symptoms. The results have practical implications for clinicians who may recommend exercise to their clients to encourage exercising to reduce depressive symptoms.

Alexis Ross, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences The new Wee Care Center at Utah Valley University opened its doors to students in January of 2014 with an increased capacity, serving 110 children at any given time, double the number of children the old facility could service. Because Utah Valley University has the lowest women success rate in the state (based on data provided by the Women’s Success Center), one of the primary purposes of expanding the Wee Care Center was to increase women’s success and degree completion at UVU. Currently, the Wee Care Center serves approximately 120 students, however, it is unknown how many other Utah Valley University students need childcare services and are not being served by the Wee Care Center. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of the current services of the students being served by the Wee Care Center, with targeted focus on women, and also to identify the students that could be served, the degree to which their current childcare needs are being met, and how these needs are impacting their student success. This study is a collaborative effort between the Department of Student Leadership and Success Studies, the Women’s Success Center, and the Wee Care Center. The Women’s Success Center will email a digital survey, using Qualtrics, to all Utah Valley University students with children, targeting students with children ages 6 weeks to 5 years, the current population serviced by Wee Care Center. This survey will gather information that will help assess the unmet childcare needs and their influence on student success, including emotional, physical, educational and financial challenges that are commonly presented while simultaneously pursuing a degree and raising children. In addition, the Wee Care Center will administer a paper survey to students being serviced by the center while the students are on site, which should increase the response rate. This survey will explore the ways the Wee Care Center contributes to the student success of those being served by the facility.While it may be too early to determine long-term effects of the Wee Care Center expansion, the objective of this study is to measure the immediate impact on those students who are being served by the new Wee Care Center since its opening, to assess the increased success of students pursuing their educational goals with access to the Wee Care Center, and to explore the level of student success from students with children that are not using the Center.

Stéfanie Morris, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences This study seeks to explain intergenerational changes in reference and selfhood for Telugu parents and for their emigrant children and grandchildren. I argue that individuals have indexical worlds—landscapes of familiarity, signs, meaning, material, and experience. These worlds are open systems, ever changing and growing as the universe and all things in it act and are acted upon (people, animals, rocks, trees, ideas, and more). Challenges often arise when individuals leave an area where they can easily connect to other individuals’ similar indexical worlds. An inability to fully understand the signs and meanings of other contexts or people often causes individuals to feel a sense of dissociation. I argue that for all people, referential worlds connect to feelings of selfhood, or belonging, as well as influence relations between generations as traditional customs and practices are syncretized with their new environment.

Braxton Larson, Dixie State University Social and Behavioral Sciences In 1962 President John F. Kennedy publicly praised President Ngo Dinh Diem for his leadership “to the defense of freedom” and protecting the Vietnamese from “unprovoked subversion and terror.” Ironically within the year, after Buddhist monks started setting themselves on fire in protest of Diem, Kennedy ordered his assassination for his role as an oppressor of his people. Was this change of policy based upon a change in Diem, or a change in the intelligence information President Kennedy was receiving? If his previous information had been correct, was President Kennedy intentionally lying to the American people? Questions like these plagued politicians, military leaders, and the general public during the Vietnam War. Now with the release of the full collection of the “Pentagon Papers,” researchers can definitively document most discrepancies between the rhetoric and the reality of that controversial conflict. This paper will explore these questions about the Kennedy administration, more specifically asking the vital question if the entire origins of the conflict were based upon lies.

Marshall Grimm and Stacia Bourne, University of Utah Social and Behavioral Sciences Despite youth’s efforts to act in morally acceptable ways, it is inevitable that they will hurt or cause harm to others (Wainryb and Recchia, 2013). Hurt feelings may be caused by purposeful misdeeds, but they also may be caused through accidents, pursuit of instrumental goals, or misunderstandings. Most older children and adolescents seem to consider both their justifiable reasons and the hurt that they caused when they judge their harmful actions. This dual focus leads many youth to evaluate their transgressions as not entirely negative (e.g., as mixed – both wrong and not wrong). Some children may be less likely to see that there are justifiable reasons that underlie some transgressive actions. For instance, it is likely that children and adolescents who feel excessive guilt for their transgressive actions will make moral judgments that are more exclusively negative. Some youth are dispositionally more guilt prone than others (Tangney 1990). Therefore, we expect that guilt prone children and adolescents will judge their transgressions more negatively than those that are not guilt prone. To examine the relationship between youths’ guilt proneness and their moral judgments of their own transgressions, we assessed 80 children and adolescents (M age = 12.86). Guilt proneness was found to be a significant predictor of moral judgments. Specifically, youth who were more guilt prone made more negative judgments. Having a clear picture of the relationship between guilt proneness and moral judgments can help parents of guilt prone kids to scaffold their children to consider the many complex features of moral transgressions and to understand it is sometimes appropriate to judge their actions as simultaneously both wrong and not wrong.

George Zamantakis, University of Utah Social and Behavioral Sciences This thesis examines the intersections of race, gender, sexual orientation, and age as they relate to queer* youth in Utah who were engaged in the juvenile legal system. Few authors, activists, and academics have taken a stand against the prison system. However, several, such as Michelle Alexandra and Angela Y. Davis, have begun to voice the inequitable conditions through which people of color are funneled into the prison industrial complex and laws are racially biased, so as to relegate people of color to a space of invisibility. Even fewer, though, have examined how this conversation relates to queer* identity (queer* meaning an umbrella term for lesbian, gay, bisexual, etc.). In order to understand these unique experiences, interviews will be conducted with individuals who self-identify as queer* and were at one point involved in the juvenile legal system. The study is a qualitative report on the abuse, trauma, and victimization that these youth have faced in their unique experience, as well as the ways in which they entered the system. While the study has not yet been conducted, much has been learned through an in-depth literature review, finding that there is little literature to document these experiences. There are few calls for change and abolition. There are even fewer calls to dismantle systems of oppression that are leading these youth into the criminal legal system. This paper is meant to be a call to action.

Sarah Nagel and Allyson Brome, University of Utah Social and Behavioral Sciences Communication between family caregivers and hospice nurses is important in caring for cancer patients at end-of-life. However, little systematic research has been done to determine what topics are discussed, how much communication occurs in different topics, and helpfulness for caregivers. This study aims to assess caregivers’ perception of these variables. As part of a larger study of nurse-family caregiver communication in home hospice cancer care, caregivers completed a survey assessing how much caregivers wanted to talk about 6 different topics, how much they actually talked about each topic, and perceived discussion helpfulness. Descriptive statistics were calculated and paired-samples t-tests were conducted to determine differences in the actual versus desired amount of topics’ communication. 209 family caregivers of home hospice cancer patients completed the survey. 95% of caregivers were white, 124 were spouses, 66 were children, 61 were men. Average caregiver age was 58.71 (SD=13.91). Average length of hospice enrollment was 25.5 days (Median= 12.00; SD=30.07). The most common topic for both actual and desired communication was symptom discussions, followed by coping with care; death/dying; coping with stress; memories/reminiscing; religion/spirituality (Mean Range Actual=4.53-1.89; Desired=4.58-1.89). Communication was seen as helpful regardless how much they wanted to talk about specific variables (Mean Range=3.00-4.62). Paired samples t-tests revealed no significant differences between actual and desired variables for any topic except for coping with stress, which was discussed less than the caregiver would have liked (t=2.38, df=207, p=.018). This study found that caregivers desired more or less communication about varying topics, and for the most part, this was reflected in actual conversation. All conversations between nurses and caregivers were considered helpful by caregivers. Though based on retrospective self-report data, study findings support current hospice nurse communication with family caregivers. However, nurses could improve on addressing caregivers’ coping with stress, which has implications for nursing education.

Ty Palmer, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences With productivity in the U.S at an unexpected low for the last quarter, it is apparent that employers and employees alike are struggling to meet the financial demands of their companies. Similar to the critical situation Chrysler was facing in 1979, the right leader, Lee Iacocca was all that was needed to save the company from going under. Researchers have studied effective leaders such as Lee Iacocca and their qualities for many generations, but little research has been conducted to gauge employer’s leadership abilities from the perspective of employees. Personality theory has been a topic well researched in the field of Psychology. A personality classification tool generally accepted by most Psychologists today is the Big Five personality characteristics, which are agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, extraversion, and neuroticism. Many studies have utilized this tool in gathering valuable data about individuals, but few studies have used this tool to evaluate a second person. The Big Five Inventory (BFI) is composed of 50 questions designed to evaluate behavior to determine personality type. The BFI utilizes a 4-point Likert scales, ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree to further gauge the prevalence of certain personality traits in a person. The BFI has been created for self-evaluation, so an adapted personality assessment will be constructed to measure a second persons personality. The proposed research would ask employees to take the personality test in behalf of their boss to determine the type of person they are. Participants will also be asked basic questions about their relationship with their boss and how satisfied they are working for them. Specific questions will be asked to determine how productive they want to be at work, and why. Through this study we expect to see a common trend among employees who appreciate one personality characteristic above others. Based on past analyzed studies regarding effective personalities, we anticipate that conscientiousness will be rated to make employees to feel more productive, but less satisfied with their work. The insight gained from this research may provide valuable information and instruction to all employers regarding what characteristics make employees want to be more productive at work.

Camila Trujillo Medina, and Daniela Barriga, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences When given a choice, low-SES parents enroll their children in low-performing schools even when reporting “academic quality” as a highly important factor in their decision making. While this disconnect has frequently been observed in the academic literature, additional research is necessary to determine the reasons for it and how race/ethnicity influences these reasons. Our study includes 59 semi-structured, qualitative interviews of low-SES parents of young, school-aged children. Our interviews include Pacific Islander families and white families from similar social class backgrounds. Based on these interviews, we find that race/ethnicity shapes parents’ conceptualizations of “good schools” and how they use these conceptualizations to discuss the decisions they make about their children’s schooling.

Austin Hernandez, Snow College Social and Behavioral Sciences Student’s study habits are always a matter of concern for both instructors and students themselves. Often times when students are learning a new subject the information the receive about studying centers around how they should study for “that class.” Research has also shown that students regularly overestimate their academic ability. The current research examines what happens if student in introductory courses are given strategy sheets which asks them to examine their study efforts and metacognitive strategies in preparation for the exam. This focuses not on the content, but the process that students use to prepare. The data collected from the students will be analyzed in comparison to their performance on subsequent exams to see if the focus on metacognition can effect a positive result on future exams.

Dakota Wilson, Snow College Social and Behavioral Sciences Ambiguity in language throughout history has always caused problems. In every field there are instances where words mean different things to different people. There seems to be more and more instances today where there is ambiguity in romantic relationship terminology and it is causing confusion and dissatisfaction. In the beginning of the 20th century words like “calling” or “going steady” were popular to describe romantic relationships whereas today “hooking up” and “hanging out” are the dominant terms. Although there have been studies that are very similar to this subject, there is little to no research exactly like it. This study has been made to assess what terminology is being used today to describe relationship terminology, why it has changed over (generational and cultural influences), and how these changes affect the satisfaction of the relationship. Methodology comprised creating a survey, a portion of which was taken from pre-validated tools such as the MSI-R to assess relationship satisfaction. Other portions included basic demographic information, current relationship terminology used, short answer where the participants were asked to describe situations in which they would use particular terms now and in middle school, in which social situations they would use certain terminology, and domains as to what each relationship term entailed in regards to behavior (these were based off of the categories in the MSI-R). The last section asked about terminology that was used in the participants youth to avoid disapproval of cultural or religious leaders if an exclusive relationship was unacceptable but was occurring regardless. Results are in the process of being analyzed.

Clair Talley and Melissa Benavides, Snow College Current research done by Susan Sprecher and Sandra Metts (1989, 1999) discusses the presence of romantic ideals and their effect on the quality of relationships. While this research focused mainly on committed relationships of college-aged students, it did not investigate the influence of these love beliefs on their sexual relationship progression. Other research that does look at why students have sex suggests that it is seen as a right of passage, a gift, a stigma, and even a means by which students can alter their mood. (Humphreys, 2013 and Dawson, Shih, de Moor and Shrier, 2008)

J Daniel Obray, Utah State University Social and Behavioral Sciences

Shawn King, Dixie State University Social and Behavioral Sciences

Gry Wheaton, AnnaBelle Bryan, James Stephenson, and Chad Morrow, University of Utah Social and Behavioral Sciences

Naomi Buys, Dixie State University Social and Behavioral Sciences

Michael King, Utah State University Social and Behavioral Sciences

Jessica Swain, Utah State University Social and Behavioral Sciences

Kaylie Carbine, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences

Michael King, Utah State University Social and Behavioral Sciences

Benjamin Hardy, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences

Laurin Wilson, Utah State University Social and Behavioral Sciences Premature birth and subsequent hospitalization of an infant in the Newborn (or Neonatal) Intensive Care Unit (NICU) can be an extremely stressful time for parents and has been associated with maternal depression, anxiety, and decreased coping ability (Hack, Taylor, Klein, & Mercuri-Minich, 2000; Hughes, McCollum, & Sheftel, 1994; Partridge et al., 2005; Shaw, Sweester, St. John, Lilo, Corcoran, Jo, & Horwitz, 2013). Interventions to reduce parents’ stress levels during the hospitalization of their very preterm infants have mixed results (Boyce, et al., 2008; Matricardi, S., Agostino, R., Fedeli, C., & Montirosso, R., 2013). This study examined the medical, family, and maternal mental health factors that influenced feelings of parental distress for mother of very premature infants.

Dusty Pilkington, Weber State University Social and Behavioral Sciences Boundaries dividing political authority rarely match natural water flow. Multiple agencies, often with competing policies and agendas, manage water within single watersheds. This discrepancy can render management efforts ineffective. Local water agencies include soil conservation districts, local health departments, and engineering agencies. Agencies have varying funding sources, managerial structures, and jurisdictional boundaries. Fragmentation can frustrate management efforts at watershed scales. Comparisons between natural watersheds and human political geography can therefore be helpful in avoiding conflicts. This research examines discrepancies between political and physical geographies for sections of three Utah rivers : the Logan and Provo Rivers, and Red Butte Creek. These rivers are being targeted for intensive research as part of a statewide, multidisciplinary water sustainability project, titled iUTAH. Water-related land use (WRLU) data acquired from Utah’s Automated Geographic Resource Center were analyzed using ArcGIS geoproceessing tools. WRLU contributing to water quality in urban river reaches is described. WRLU was examined using three boundary sets, comparing the political geography of the river reaches, as depicted in municipal boundaries and management areas of community water providers, to their physical geography, as depicted in United States Geologic Survey Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) watersheds. WRLU mixes using political infrastructure were contrasted with land use mixes from HUC boundaries. WRLU was classified in seven categories: residential, commercial/industrial, riparian/water features, irrigated agriculture, non-irrigated agriculture, farmsteads, and parks/open spaces. A gradient from rural Heber, to urbanizing Logan, to fully urbanized Red Butte Creek is shown. While Red Butte Creek HUC boundaries showed 53.8 % residential land use, Red Butte Creek municipal boundaries and community providers totaled 26 % and 39 % residential use, respectively. Differences emerged when irrigated agriculture was assessed using HUC boundaries. Irrigated agriculture totaled 0.2 % in Red Butte Creek, with Logan showing 29. 7% and Heber irrigated agriculture sitting at 41.1 %.

Luz Maria Carreno, Utah State University Social and Behavioral Sciences Significance: Patients’ health literacy, or ability to comprehend and understand health information, influences their health status, knowledge about medical care and conditions, and hospitalization and adherence rate (Andrus, & Roth, 2002). Low-English proficiency patients are especially at risk, given they must overcome English and health literacy barriers.

Kelsea Hill, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences Sexuality has long been identified as foundational in the lives of married couples. An area lacking in research, however, is the transition into sexuality made by couples who practiced abstinence prior to being married. The data for this study comes from a survey of 597 respondents that had practiced abstinence before being married. This focuses on the qualitative responses to questions asked abstinent couples about what helped make the transition into sexual intimacy, what purpose(s) sex has in their relationship, what they wished they had discussed prior to having sex, and what challenges they experienced in the transition into sexual intimacy.

Jared Glenn, Utah State University Social and Behavioral Sciences Previous research shows that girls and women tend to prefer and perform better in classes taught by women. However, much less research analyzes the impact of instructor gender on learning outcomes among boys and men. This research fills that gap by analyzing the effect of professor gender on male college students’ achievement. Relying on survey and in-depth interviews among undergraduate men at a large research university, this study finds no significant empirical data that professor gender significantly impacts men’s academic achievement, in contrast to previous findings among girls and women. Interview findings, however, suggest that men prefer the tough grading, which they indicate is integral in male-taught classes. The study contributes to our understanding of gender differences in an academic setting and how that factor shapes learning outcomes and achievement.

Rachel LaForce, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences On an island of 65,000 people, Guernsey’s Housing Control Law offers a two-tiered alternative to the free market system. In an attempt to more closely regulate the growing population of their limited area (approximately 25 square miles), the States of Guernsey implemented the Housing Control Law in the late 1940s. With a provision that allows it to be altered and updated every 10 years, there is a distinct change over time in its original purpose and its contemporary companion. This study is based on information gained by using ethnographic methods during a two month field study in Guernsey. Questions focused on how residents perceived the purpose of the law, and how they believe it achieved those purposes. Results suggest that residents accurately perceive the original purpose of the Housing Control Law as described by the States of Guernsey, hoping to preserve the majority of housing opportunities for the indigenous population. Although their view of the modern implementation is much more varied, most point to the benefits that attracting high net-worth individuals brings to the island’s economy and also justify the use of housing incentives for skilled individuals to fill a labor shortage. Resident perception aligns with the original purpose of the Housing Control Law. With change over time, Guernsey residents understand the necessity to increase economic activity and fill labor shortages which can be provided via housing incentives, especially a two-tiered housing market.

Lyndsey Craig, Dixie State University Social and Behavioral Sciences The ability for caregivers to read infant cues accurately is important for the development of infant regulatory capacities and attachment formation. Caregivers with insecure attachment representations may misinterpret infant cues and respond inappropriately. Anxious-ambivalent and avoidant attachment representations were examined with accuracy of interpreting infant engagement and disengagement cues. In an online survey, 112 college students completed the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised scale and interpreted images of infants’ engagement and disengagement cues. Anxious-ambivalent attachment was negatively correlated with accuracy of interpreting engagement cues. Caregivers with anxious-ambivalent attachment representations may respond inconsistently to their infants and promote the intergenerational transmission of insecure attachment. These results suggest a potential target for education efforts for new parents.

Brandon Hansen, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences Measuring eye movements during reading is an effective and ecologically valid way to investigate dynamic changes in human cognition. The boundary technique (Rayner, 1975) is often employed during experimental reading research by changing text in real-time between eye movements—permitting subtle manipulations which are not obvious to the reader. Frequently, these manipulations include the replacement of a target word (beach) by words that are homophones (beech), semantically related (shore), orthographically related (bench), or by random letter masks (hxnzt). Understanding the differences between text in which the target word is available (beach) and denied (hxnzt) allows a deeper understanding of dynamic cognitive processes. In a real-world sense, such investigations yield findings that assists doctors, clinicians, and educators as they create interventions for those, for example, with learning disabilities such as dyslexia.

Brendan Willis, University of Utah Social and Behavioral Sciences Most people at some point in their lives will encounter a situation where they witness, perpetrate, or fail to stop an action that seriously violates their moral beliefs, events that have recently been termed moral injuries. Litz and colleagues (2009) proposed a theoretical framework that suggests such moral injuries may interact with various protective and risk factors in order to result in either positive or negative outcomes. Negative outcomes could include feelings of guilt, shame, self-condemnation, and alienation. Positive outcomes could include individuals realizing that they have done something wrong, but accepting that they are not bad or evil and resolving to become a better person. A vital part of this framework is the concept of meaning making, the process by which individuals grapple with understanding and constructing meaning regarding their participation in events that violate their moral beliefs. The degree to which an individual is able to adaptively make meaning of a potentially morally injurious event is believed to serve as a mediator in the association between experiencing such an event and developing negative consequences. Specifically, the more adaptively an individual can make meaning of a morally injurious event, the less negative will be the outcomes. However, this mediational role of meaning making in the association between moral injury and psychological distress is a proposition of the theory that to date has not been empirically tested. Given its importance in the moral injury model, the purpose of this study is to empirically test whether or not this association exists. Understanding meaning making’s role in the moral injury model will help form a foundation of empirical work on which future research can build.

Chelsea Romney, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences Getting adequate sleep is essential for optimal daytime functioning and has implications for both physical and mental health. There are several reasons to believe that social support may influence sleep outcomes. Although certain relationships (e.g., married versus unmarried) have been tied to sleep disturbances, little is known about the association between the quality of one’s overall social network and sleep. Thus, in the present study, we examined how the amount of supportive relationships in an individual’s social network is associated with sleep outcomes.

Jarrett Webster, Dixie State University Social and Biological Sciences This study sought to determine what type of influences a British accent has on Americans. It was predicted that American listeners would rate a British voice higher than an American voice across four traits: physical attraction, social attraction, credibility, and overall favorability. Participants were 197 undergraduate students from Dixie State University (68 men, 129 women). Participants were offered extra credit in return for participation and ranged in age from 17-60. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The experiment was designed as a between-subjects experiment. The control group heard an American voice and saw a picture of a man. The experiment group heard a British voice and saw a picture of the same man. Both groups were asked to answer questions that measured the four dependent variable traits. A multivariate analysis of variance was used to calculate results. The hypothesis was confirmed for all of the traits except credibility. These findings have ramifications in interpersonal relationships in business, educational, and social settings.

Tanner Mortimer, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences Surveys show that nearly half of all Americans reject evolution as an explanation of the origin and diversity of life on Earth, especially when concerning human evolution. (Gallup 2007). Furthermore, there is a correlation between the rejections of evolutionary science with a belief in a Christian God-creator (Gallup 2007).

Natalie Blanton, University of Utah Social and Behavioral Sciences The rates of women interacting with the criminal justice system are increasing steadily—yet little is known about the experiences of these women with/within the system as well as the latent effects that follow them throughout their lives. With a sociological perspective, one comes to understand the immense impact of experiences, inequities, and health/wellness/opportunity disparities in individual’s lives—especially within the criminal justice system. This project takes a multi-pronged feminist perspective/approach to women’s interaction with such.

Michael Christensen, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences Suicide is a major problem for students in Utah middle and high schools. Since adolescents spend a large portion of their time on social media like Facebook and Twitter, there is a wealth of information we can learn about their personalities, moods, and interests by exploring their online interactions with others and specifically the statuses and messages they post publicly. We have created a Facebook app to mine this data and report the mood of a logged-in user’s entire network based on the individual classification of community members’ posts. We contribute to the Public Health field by aggregating suicide-risk factors and facilitating intervention, the motivation being to help others better identify and help those who are at-risk for suicide based on their online behavior. We contribute to the Computer Science field by creating a machine learning algorithm that can classify text into one of several fine-grained mood categories, learning to identify more than just positive or negative sentiment. In addition, our algorithm has the ability to update online by receiving feedback from the users on how well or poorly it classified the text of their friends’ posts. We describe our algorithm and report on preliminary results about its performance on real-world data.

Zack Bjerregaard, Weber State University Social and Behavioral Sciences The research presented here will lay the groundwork for a larger project as part of iUTAH that will examine the interrelationships and feedbacks among hydroclimate and the ecological and human aspects of urban and montane landscapes in the Wasatch Range Metropolitan Area (WRMA). To assess how human systems and urban development patterns influence water sustainability, we developed a typology of neighborhoods in the WRMA based on sociodemographic and climate variables and built environment characteristics that previously have been found to affect water system dynamics. Using GIS and statistical analysis programs, variables were aggregated to census block groups (CBGs), which we determined were a satisfactory proxy for neighborhoods in most urban areas. Previous studies show that neighborhoods are an important level of measurement because of their influence on individuals’ behaviors. Only CBGs that had a recalculated population density of at least 50 people per square mile after subtracting areas of water and/or federally-owned land were included. A statistical factor/cluster analysis was performed on these variables, which returned a typology of neighborhoods and their spatial distribution based on water usage. The typology will be used by other members of the project to target a select number of each neighborhood type, where instrumentation and further data collection will be implemented to examine the impacts of urban development patterns on water sustainability and the wider ecological and physical hydroclimate.

Quinn Linford, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences Background: Mt. Timpanogos has been an attraction for the residents of Utah Valley and has become a center of recreation for much of Utah. For many years Mt. Timpanogos was the home of an annual hike hosting a daily crowd of approximately 18,000 people. After being designated a wilderness area in 1984, the annual hike was banned. However, the mountain remains an attraction for many residents of the surrounding valleys and visitors from around the world. Currently one- to two-thousand people hike the mountain on mid-summer weekends. This concentration continues to push the limits of the mountain’s ability to accommodate while balancing the opportunities for solitude and unconfined recreation.

Brooke Bradford, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences Research in the area of sexuality indicates that females tend to be more flexible in their sexual behaviors than males.(Baumeister, 2000) Studies also seem to indicate that there is a more permissive and accepting attitude towards women’s bisexual behaviors than towards men’s bisexual behaviors(Lippa, 2006; Savin-Williams, 2006) The present experiment was created in order to measure the perceptions of bisexual behavior held by Utah Valley University students. One hundred students were asked to read brief descriptions of similar sexual behaviors participated in by men and women. Participants were asked to rate these sexual behaviors on a scale and indicate if they perceive the behavior as heterosexual, questioning, bi-curious, bisexual or homosexual. The participants were then asked to rate behaviors on a scale of acceptability as well as a scale of commonality. The questions consist of similar behaviors being engaged in by males and females in order to test for changes in perceptions of the sexual activity occur based on the gender of the actor in the scenario. It is hypothesized that the results of these surveys will support current research in this area and confirm that the scenarios featuring females will be rated as more acceptable, common and placed in the bisexual categories.

Chelsea Pineda Davey, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences Sense of community on the island of Guernsey is a cross between organic and mechanical solidarity. I argue that this sense of community is built and maintained through the island’s voluntary sector. The charities and volunteers help to preserve Guernsey’s sense of community and hold the society together. As I do this I use Durkheim and Mauss’s theories along with the McMillan/Chavis definition of sense of community to support my findings.

Chauntelle Gates, Dixie State University Social and Behavioral Sciences Prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) can affect the brain development of the fetus and we know early experiences, even during gestation, shape the way our brain is developed. Since the brain growth of the fetus is rapid, any stressful situation can alter the rate at which the brain develops resulting in an under developed brain at the time of birth. This paper focuses on potential risks associated with prenatal maternal stress to the developing brain throughout gestation and preventive measures to reduce risk. Prenatal care is used throughout the world in a preventive manner to ensure optimum health and welfare of the mother and her baby, throughout gestation. Prenatal care is imperative and should take place during the first trimester to prevent potential risks to the fetus. It detects early signs of abnormalities in the infant, benefiting the mothers’ overall health. Mothers who take advantage of prenatal care, especially when PNMS occurs, have better birth outcomes and overall the brain development of the fetus is less effected. Other life situations could affect the brain development of the fetus but this paper will only focus on the effects PNMS has on the brain.

Jenna Deelstra, Weber State University Social and Behavioral Sciences The purpose of the present study was to explore the impact of facilitative mental imagery training on distance runners. Female (n=20) and male (n=11) athletes, separated by skill level classifications: Collegiate (n=19) and recreational (n=12) completed the Motivational Imagery Ability Measure for Sport (MIAMS) before and after 21 days of mental imagery training. Included in the training were relaxation and breathing techniques followed by guided imagery related to distance running training and competition. Physiological data including galvanic skin response (GSR), skin temperature, and breathing rate were also measured while participants took the MIAMS survey, which asked them to imagine and experience a competition. A One-way Analysis of variance (ANOVA) examining the effects of the imagery training on MIAMS survey responses between collegiate and recreational athletes for motivational general-mastery imagery (MG-M) and arousal imagery (MG-A) was employed. Significance was found in the emotional response evoked and the ease of producing imagery between the two groups. Post-training skin temperature and galvanic skin response (GSR) between the two groups was also significant. These findings support previous research indicating that imagery is both a talent and a skill that can lead to better emotional control in competitive athletes. More research must be done to better understand the effects of mental imagery training on male and female distance athletes.

Tyler Moore, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences A fundamental concept in behavioral economics is that of loss-aversion, that is, the differentially greater effect of loss when compared to gain. The law of relative effect (also known as the matching law) provides the framework for precise behavioral measurement of that differential in a hedonic scale. We recently developed a video game by which to achieve that measurement. Participants will be invited to play the game during a series of sessions in which gain and loss contingencies are varied–sometimes the participant will gain points and sometimes lose them. In addition to varying the relative frequencies of gains and losses in order to measure their relative effects on behavioral choice, we will measure the effects of an additional variable by means of a different group of participants. This second group will win or lose points in one condition of the experiment and, in the other condition, win or lose actual money. It is our prediction that the group experiencing the loss of money rather than points will demonstrate behaviors indicative of a greater aversion to loss than their counterparts, who will merely lose points.

Kathi Beckett, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences The Kallari Association, a group of self-governed organic cocoa producers located in the Napo Province of the Ecuadorian Amazon, is creating sustainable income through cacao farming and the production of organic chocolate bars in Ecuador. Using interviews and participant observation, I conducted fieldwork with six different Kichwa cacao farmers from five different communities in the Amazon area of Ecuador during the summer of 2013. In my research, I focused on the farmer’s reasons for involvement in the Kallari Association, the local community cooperative. These farmers expressed that they were driven by a desire for an increase in profits, agricultural knowledge, and education. At the same time, their involvement in the cooperative seems to have created a dilemma for them. On one hand their participation strengthened the teaching of Kichwa cultural traditions, and increased their access to food and educational opportunities, while on the other hand, the increased educational opportunities appears to have contributed to a loss of Kichwa cultural traditions.

Pratik Raghu, Westminster College Social and Behavioral Sciences Divided between India and Pakistan in multiple senses, Kashmir is home to the one of the world’s oldest yet least discussed civil conflicts. India and Pakistan continue to defend their claims to Kashmiri land, but most political thinkers agree that establishing an independent democratic state is the only way to ensure long term politico-economic stability in South Asia. However, what should this democracy look like?

Mary Barnewitz, University of Utah Social and Behavioral Sciences Analysis of archaeofaunal remains aids in the understanding of the ecological effects of past human prey-species exploitation. Sea otters (Enhydra lutris), in particular, were intermediate-return prey for late Holocene human populations along the California coastline. At the Yerba Buena Shellmound, on the San Francisco Peninsula, there is significant evidence of sea otter use by the local human inhabitants from 1950-1000 14C YBP. This study aims to investigate the use of sea otters at this site in order to address the implications of human subsistence patterns and the use of natural resources during this time period. The study will examine sea otter epiphyseal fusion and tooth crown height as measures of age, as well as comparative indices with other larger and smaller prey animals, in order to determine the age structure and abundance of this prey species over the time of site occupation. Given the breeding ecology of the sea otter, prey depression is often signaled by an increase in mean age over time. Prey resource depression is also signaled by decreases in the use of large-prey animals, and an increase in the lower return, small prey. Comparing the sea otter remains in the site to other taxa will provide more information regarding the significance of sea otters as prey. In general, a mean age increase in sea otters is indicated by the Yerba Buena sea otter tooth remains, but to a much lesser extent by the fused and unfused sea otter bone specimens. The interpretations of the comparative indices are still in progress. Nevertheless, the preliminary results support other evidence revealing over-exploitation of local resources in the San Francisco Bay area. Understanding the effect of past human behavior and subsistence patterns on local ecology is an important pursuit as it can help guide our management of future ecological resources.

Andrew Broadbent, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences Introduction: Timpanogos is the second highest peak in Utah County, and has the highest visitation in the state, despite having no stand-out features such as being the highest or most technical. Over the years Mt. Timpanogos has been valuable go-to wilderness area for recreating Utahns. It also has developed a unique sense of place in the way that famous locations like Yosemite and Yellowstone have. Now Timpanogos has exceptionally high visitation and trail use relative to other recreation areas in the US. One purpose of this research is to explain what makes this peak special to visitors and what can be done to improve the visitor experience in areas such as littering, trail cutting, and overcrowding.

Cassandra Southam, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences Recruitment and retention are two of the most salient issues in emergency medical services (EMS) today. The National Association of State and regional EMS leaders, has twice identified recruitment and retention as the most important issues facing rural EMS agencies across the nation. The purpose of this study was to predict how Utah EMS personnel reached a point of wanting to resign using a stress model; value of job, self and other harm, spouse satisfaction, formal support as independent predictor variables. This data was obtained from an IRB approved statewide survey of all EMS personnel during the Spring of 2010. Of the 7,000 current EMS employees, 668 completed the survey, resulting in a 9.5 percent response rate. Results. The linear regression model indicated that the model explained 28 percent of the overall variance. A brief explanation of the findings indicates that all the direct paths were significant at the .05 level. The more they harmed themselves and others, the more they wanted to resign (Beta coefficient of .31). The higher their levels of Past Call-related Stress, the more they wanted to resign (.21). The higher their levels of spouse satisfaction, the more they wanted to resign (.07). The more they found value in their job, the less they wanted to resign ( -.18), And finally, the more they valued formal support from the debriefing team, the less they wanted to resign (-.10). Administrators and agency leaders can use these indicators to intervene when an EMS employee reaches a difficult point from the stresses and hardships of the job. Education, training, and available support can be very useful in preventing trained, experienced, and valued EMS employees from leaving the field. Local EMS directors and policymakers may find the results and study methodology useful toward designing and evaluating programs.

Desirae Wood, Weber State University Social and Behavioral Sciences Previous research has suggested that genetic polymorphisms may be correlated with specific behaviors and personality traits. The SLC6A4 gene that codes for the serotonin transporter contains a polymorphism in the promoter region that has been associated with anxiety, depression, and other psychiatric disorders. There have been reports linking SLC6A4 polymorphisms to traits such as neuroticism and harm avoidance (HA), but the relationship to novelty seeking (NS) is unclear. HA and NS are personality traits that have been correlated to some forms of risk taking, including casual sex. This present study was designed to explore a potential link between SLC6A4 polymorphisms in relation to novelty seeking, the frequency of casual sex behavior, and the cognitive assessment of how risky such behavior is. Undergraduate students (n=288) completed the Cloninger Temperament and Character Inventory, the Physical Risk Frequency Inventory, and the Physical Risk Assessment Inventory, and provided cheek swab cell samples for genotyping via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and electrophoresis gel. Ongoing data collection and data analysis will be complete by the end of November.

Clinton Hardy, University of Utah Social and Behavioral Sciences Coercive treatment practices, while controversial, are commonly employed (by mental health professionals and parents) when admitting adolescents into outdoor behavioral healthcare (OBH; e.g., outdoor/wilderness therapy) and residential-based treatment settings. While coercive practices have been investigated in various adult treatment contexts, to my knowledge no study has examined coercive practices or pressures among adolescent treatments. As the first of its kind, my report investigates the relationship between adolescent-perceived coercive treatment pressures (i.e., negative pressures) and their affective reactions reported when entering OBH treatment. Negative pressures, or the perceptions of “threat” and “force” during admissions, are measured via the Negative Pressures Subscale (NPS) of the MacArthur Admission Experience Survey (AES). Affective reactions to entering treatment are measured via the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule – Expanded Form (PANAS-X). Although this study is still taking place, my interim analysis (N = 36, age range: 14-17) has so far demonstrated the following predicted relationships between negative pressures and affective reactions in OBH treatment admissions: An adolescent’s increased perception of negative pressures significantly correlates with (a) increased affective distress (r = .377, p = .037), (b) decreased affective positivity (r = -.61, p < .001), and (c) increased affective hostility (r = .464, p = .003). Therefore, significant medium to large correlational effect sizes are reasoned to be imminent. In recognizing that negative pressures might not only relate to an aversive admissions experience, but also negatively impact or delay positive treatment outcomes, future research is concluded to be essential.