Undergraduate Research Day 2020
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/20158
With students involved in so many research opportunities, Undergraduate Research Day provides the perfect opportunity for them to share their work with the campus community. Held each April, Undergraduate Research Day showcases current research, scholarship, and artistic endeavors.
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Item The Roles of Body Surveillance, Feminist Beliefs, and Feminine Norm Adherence in Women's Reproductive Health Efficacy and Behavior(2020) Pekosz, Madeleine; Le, Thomas; Iwamoto, Derek; Iwamoto, DerekWhile accessibility to reproductive health resources has increased for women, challenges related to sexual self-efficacy and contraceptive use remain prevalent. Factors including feminist beliefs, empowerment, and adherance to feminine norms have predicted positive and negative health behaviors, but less is known about how they relate to reproductive health, specifically sexual self-efficacy and contraceptive use. This study aimed to examine gender-relevant factors that predict sexual self-efficacy and contraceptive use, specifically, body surveillance, feminism, empowerment, and feminine norms. A survey consisting of these measures was administered to 247 women. Results showed empowerment was positively associated with both sexual self-efficacy and contraceptive use. The feminine norms of appearance, modesty, and sexual fidelity were negatively associated with sexual self-efficacy, while sexual fidelity was also negatively associated with contraceptive use. Findings highlight the importance of addressing the important roles of empowerment and feminine norms in women’s reproductive health beliefs and behaviors.Item Preschoolers negatively evaluate social excluders but do not always dis-prefer them(2020) Horen, Lindsay; Knoll, Sarah; Woodward, Amanda; Beier, JonathanSocial exclusion is harmful and leads to negative consequences in the cognitive and social domains (Wesselman & Williams, 2013). Children use strategies to alleviate the negative effects of social exclusions. One of these strategies is to behave in ways that facilitate social connection. For instance, after observing social exclusion young children sit closer to others, remember more social events, and imitate others more accurately (Marinovic et al., 2017; Marinovic & Trauble, 2018; Watson-Jones et al., 2014), tend to remember more social events, and imitate others. The current study investigated cognitive processes that may underlie children’s choices of whom to interact with after exclusion. Specifically, we examined whether 3- to 6- year old children who observed third-party social exclusion detected social exclusion, evaluated excluders negatively, and if watching exclusion influenced their play partner choices. Overall, we found that across age groups, all children detected social exclusion after it occurred (67 of 69, p< 0.01) but did not detect exclusion when it did not occur (2 of 69, p< 0.01). Children also evaluated social excluders more negatively than social includers (b= -0.06, t(67)= 3.11, p= 0.003). With age, children evaluated social excluders more negatively, but children across ages evaluated includers positively. Only 5- and 6-year-olds preferred to play with includers more than excluders. 3- and 4-year-olds did not show a preference for either character. These findings indicated that both younger and older children can detect exclusion and evaluate excluders, but only older children prefer to play with includers over excluders. Future work should examine why younger children do not show similar preferences.Item Examining the Interactive Effect of Conformity to the Thinness Ideal and Depression on Risky Sexual Behavior(2020) Prescod, Emma; Ballentine, Holly; Hoang, Michelle; Littleton, Jessica; Sherman, Roberta; Risco, CristinaCompared to White women, Black women are at increased risk for HIV and sexually transmitted infections (CDC, 2018). Previous research on predominantly White women has shown that negative body image reflects conformity to the thinness ideal (James et al., 2001) and predicts high-risk sexual behaviors (Larson et al., 2011; Kvalem et al., 2011). This may have similar relevance for Black women in conferring risk—and this effect may be amplified by depressive symptoms (Thames et al., 2018). We focus on young adulthood given the greater saliency of thinness norms and increased risky sexual behavior during this period (Voelker et al., 2015). It was hypothesized that the relationship between conformity to the thinness ideal and risky sexual behavior is moderated by depressive symptoms such that for women who are relatively higher on depressive symptoms, there will be an increased effect. A community sample of 117 self-identified African American/Black women (M age=21, SD=2.25) were recruited from the Washington, D.C. area. Participants completed self-report measures of thinness conformity (modified version of the Conformity to Feminine Norms Inventory; Mahalik et al., 2005), depressive symptoms (Depression Subscale of the Brief Symptom Inventory; Derogatis, 2001), and sexual risk behavior (Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System; CDC, 2013). Depressive symptoms moderated the effect of thinness ideal on risky sexual behavior (b =-.03, p =.039), but only for women who were relatively high on depressive symptoms. Moreover, this effect was in the negative direction, contrary to our hypothesis. For women at the mean level of depressive symptoms as well as those below the mean level, there was no effect of thinness ideal on risky sexual behavior. Overall, the model predicted 5% of the variance in risky sexual behavior, F(3,79)=3.19, p =.028. The current findings indicate that women who are nonconforming to feminine norms (e.g., thinness ideal) may externalize depressive symptoms in ways associated with traditional masculinity (e.g., risky sexual behavior). Future research should examine if the thinness ideal adequately applies to African American women.