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Linking Multi-Informant Reports of Mental Health Symptoms to Juvenile Offending
Full text linkAdolescent delinquent behavior is a persistent problem, and among juvenile offenders, levels of mental health diagnoses are often high. Previous research suggests a potential link between mental health symptoms and persistent, severe offending, but evidence is mixed. Further, juveniles who come to the attention of the justice system often receive psychological assessments that utilize multiple symptom raters. Informant discrepancies – disagreements between two symptom raters – are associated with a variety of child outcomes such as depression and risk for future justice involvement. However, how informant discrepancies predict juveniles’ offense severity remains underexplored. The current study aimed to use multiple regression analyses to examine the relationships between internalizing and externalizing symptoms (as predictors) and juveniles’ total number of justice system charges (as the outcome). Interaction terms were used to explore the associations between caregiver-child informant discrepancies in internalizing and externalizing symptoms and the number of charges. Contrary to hypotheses, neither self- nor caregiver-reported mental health symptoms predicted the total number of charges. Informant discrepancies were also not significantly associated with the number of charges; however, as predicted, poor agreement was observed between youth and their caregivers for both internalizing and externalizing symptoms. The current study’s results may help clarify under what conditions informant discrepancies are clinically meaningful and offer guidance to clinicians on how to interpret divergent reports
Morphological and Morphometric Assessment of a Plio-Pleistocene Cordylid Fossil Braincase from Swartkrans Cave, South Africa
Full text linkThis thesis presents a morphological and morphometric assessment of a Pleistocene cordylid fossil braincase found in Swartkrans Cave, South Africa. The primary objective was to describe the osteological cranial anatomy of this specimen and to compare it with extant species of the family Cordylidae using micro-CT scanning and 3D geometric morphometric techniques. The fossil can be identified as a member of Cordylidae based on braincase morphology, which included the parabasisphenoid, basioccipital, otooccipital, and supraoccipital bones. A morphometric analysis was conducted to quantify and explore the morphology of the braincase within cordylids. The results contribute to the paleobiology of Plio-Pleistocene herpetofauna from South Africa, and the evolutionary history of the Cordylidae family
Investigation of DNA Extraction, Purification, and Downstream Processing Techniques for Challenging Skeletal Remains
Full text linkIn many unidentified human remains cases, only skeletal elements are recovered. DNA typing can be used to positively identify the individual in these situations, but processing skeletal samples for DNA recovery presents considerable challenges. These samples naturally contain limited DNA, may include PCR inhibitors, and are frequently degraded. Therefore, it is crucial to use a DNA extraction and purification method capable of recovering the highest quality and quantity of DNA. Furthermore, it is essential to implement a genotyping method that is well-suited to the quality and quantity of the recovered DNA, ensuring the best chance of successfully identifying the individual. This research aimed to investigate DNA analysis procedures for human identification, focusing on three main areas: DNA extraction and purification techniques, genotyping methods, and the examination of an understudied subset of remains—those that have been chemically altered.
Although several DNA extraction and purification methods exist; our goal was to modify an established method, InnoXtract™, to enhance its suitability for skeletal samples. InnoXtract™ is originally designed for DNA extraction from low-template samples, such as rootless hair shafts, but its ability to successfully capture highly fragmented DNA suggested it suitability with skeletal samples. By creating a homebrew digestion buffer and modifying the lysis and purification parameters, we found that InnoXtract™ could effectively recover quality DNA from these difficult samples.
While STR markers are considered the gold standard in DNA typing, other markers may be more suitable for analyzing skeletal samples. Specifically, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which are small single-base markers, can help address the challenges of DNA degradation and offer additional investigative leads through phenotypic and ancestry predictions, as well as forensic investigative genetic genealogy. We compared four genotyping methods and developed a recommended workflow for identifying challenging skeletal remains.
In addition to the inherent challenges of processing skeletal samples, individuals may intentionally alter the remains to hinder identification. Household cleaning products, which often contain high concentrations of dangerous compounds, can be used to destroy human remains. Despite the growing prevalence of such cases, research on DNA recovery from realistically treated samples remains limited, which has prompted our investigation
EXPLORING SYSTEMIC RACISM IN STUDENT LOAN ATTAINMENT: A NARRATIVE INQUIRY OF LIVED EXPERIENCES OF BLACK STUDENT BORROWERS
Full text linkJohnson, Bridgett N., Exploring systemic racism in student loan attainment: A narrative inquiry of lived experiences of Black student borrowers. Doctor of Education (Higher Education Leadership), December, 2025, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas.
Higher education is often viewed as an investment toward becoming a successful
adult in the United States (U.S.). Successful completion secures financial stability, societal acceptance, and skill enhancement to improve one’s quality of life. When the distribution of student debt is viewed from a racial lens, Black students suffer the greatest. Black students were the highest percentage of federal loan borrowers among bachelor's degree holders, totaling 76.1%. These societal costs create the need for an examination of the drivers of inequality in student debt and the impacts such inequalities have on Black students specifically. There is a significant limitation in research that explores the lived experiences of Black college graduates through the examination lens of systematic racism in student loan lending. This qualitative narrative inquiry examined the lived experiences of five Black borrowers who incurred $75,000 or more in student loan debt to understand why they borrowed and how debt shaped post-school life. Utilizing a biographical narrative model as a prominent model that focuses on an individual’s life story and experiences, in-depth semi-structured in-person interviews were conducted. The data analysis revealed five
primary drivers of borrowing: familial aspirations and financial necessity; insufficient financial aid advising; limited financial literacy; career ambitions; and the desire for an enhanced quality of life. Findings showed that while education, promoted as a pathway to mobility, can reproduce inequality when financed through inflexible, interest‑bearing debt for those with limited assets.
The findings signal for higher education practice to include proactive, equity‑minded advising; transparent, individualized pre‑borrowing counseling;
basic‑needs supports and paid work opportunities; and more cost‑conscious packaging. Policy implications include making income‑driven repayment the default, curbing capitalization and balance growth, expanding targeted forgiveness, and increasing grant aid. Limitations include the small purposive sample, retrospective self‑report, single‑region context, and time‑bound policy environment; thus, findings are not statistically generalizable but offer transferable insights for institutions and policymakers seeking to reduce harm and promote equitable financial outcomes. Researchers should continue to examine the race-neutral policies that impact student loan borrowing and repayment for Black students and the long-term effects of student debt on post-schooling borrowers
NAVIGATING THE HEART: THE ROLE OF EMOTION WORK AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS
Full text linkThis study examines the intersection of emotion work and emotional intelligence in heterosexual romantic relationships among young adults aged 18-25. Drawing on Arlie Hochschild's theory of emotion work, symbolic interactionism, and West and Zimmerman's "doing gender," this research investigates how emotional labor is distributed within heterosexual romantic partnerships and what role gender plays in these processes. Through in-depth qualitative interviews with 12 participants currently in relationships lasting at least one year, this study uncovers gendered emotional labor patterns. Female participants demonstrated higher levels of emotion work through relational initiative and emotional communication, actively managing relationship dynamics and bridging emotional disparities with their partners. Male participants showed a developing capacity for partner-focused empathy that evolved throughout their relationships. The findings illustrate how emotion work operates as a mechanism for reproducing gender inequality. Women disproportionately bear responsibility for emotional caretaking while simultaneously reinforcing traditional gender norms through these performances. This research contributes to sociological understanding of intimate relationships by connecting individual emotional behaviors to broader systems of gender organization, demonstrating how everyday emotional exchanges construct and maintain gendered social structures
The Power of Pre-K: A Pre-and Post-Pandemic Analysis of Prekindergarten and Grade 3 Reading Achievement
Full text linkThe purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between prekindergarten (Pre-K) enrollment and Grade 3 reading achievement in Texas, as measured by the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR). Statewide, multiyear archival data from the Texas Education Agency were analyzed for six school years, from 2017-2018 through 2023-2024, covering both pre- and post-COVID 19 pandemic periods. Analyses compared student performance by Pre-K enrollment status across the Approaches, Meets, and Masters Grade Level standards, as well as across Reading Reporting Categories. Across all years studied, students who were enrolled in Pre-K consistently scored higher on the STAAR reading assessment than those who did not, demonstrating advantages in meeting and mastering grade-level standards as well as in reporting category performance. While similar benefits were evident across gender, the results by race and ethnicity were more variable, with some groups showing less consistent gains. These findings indicate that Pre-K enrollment provides measurable, long-term benefits for reading achievement, yet additional targeted interventions are needed to close persistent equity gaps. The results of this investigation inform policymakers, district leaders, and educators on the value of expanding high-quality Pre-K access and support as a strategy for improving early literacy outcomes and reducing achievement disparities
ASSESSING THE IMPACT: HOW DO BLACK STUDENTS PERCEIVE USING SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS TO RAISE AWARENESS AND DRIVE CHANGE FOR SOCIAL ISSUES IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY?
No full textThere have been previous studies conducted on digital media (e.g., social media) and traditional media as it relates to engagement and information sharing. I identified research opportunities that prompted my exploration into Black students and social media advocacy. I designed a qualitative research study to examine the perceptions of Black students about using social media to raise awareness and drive change for social issues in the Black community. I recruited four Black undergraduate students from two Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) in Texas. I developed a semi-structured interview protocol to elicit data exploring the following research questions: (a) how do Black students advocate for social issues using social media? (b) how do Black students use social media to inform members of other racial communities about social issues in the Black community? and (c) how do Black students perceive the impact of social media advocacy in creating social change for their community?
The findings revealed six major themes: (a) Social Media Engagement, (b) Assessing Credibility, (c) Prompting Change, (d) Cultivating a Safe Space, (e) Lived Experiences, and (f) Perceived Outcomes. Additionally, I discovered the participants had differing views on the impact of social media on social movements and on the Black community. The findings offered implications for higher educational practitioners including action items to implement processes addressing culturally sensitive issues, increasing exposure to social issues, and emphasizing campus involvement
DEVELOPING A NOVEL DUAL-DRIVER MODEL TO FACILITATE MECHANISTIC STUDIES OF CANCER CACHEXIA IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER
Full text linkCancer cachexia is a complex, multi-organ syndrome whose early initiating events remain poorly understood, in part due to limitations in existing model systems. Our lab’s GAL4-driven RasV12, scribRNAi larval model (hereafter Gal4-model) has yielded extensive data on cachexia and pre-cachexia, but it has significant limitations for mechanistic studies. The Gal4 system is a powerful tool for gene expression, functional, and rescue studies due to the vast number of both target and driver lines available. This makes it desirable to convert the tumor generation to an alternative technology, thus freeing Gal4 for use in the peripheral tissues. To overcome this, dual-driver models (DDM) have been developed, utilizing the alternative “Q-system” binary expression tool to drive tumorigenesis, thereby freeing Gal4 for targeted manipulation of specific muscles. To accomplish our longer-term goals, we have decided to build an additional DDM to complement the utility of existing models. We designed our model to limit the number of transgenes needed and to enable testing of transgenes in the peripheral tissues as an F1 cross. To this end, we constructed a dual-promoter vector to express the QUAS-RasV12 and QUAS-scribRNAi elements to drive tumor formation and had the construct injected at the su(Hw)attP5 site on the second chromosome. This resulted in weak tumor induction (hereafter QQ-weak), which surprisingly recapitulated early pre-cachectic changes in the muscle. We therefore established this model for pre-cachexic mechanistic studies. To generate a stronger model that recapitulates the full spectrum of GAL4 model phenotypes, including delayed pupation, giant larvae, and invasive tumorigenesis, we used conventional stock building to integrate a previously published QUAS-RasV12 and QUAS-scribRNAi chromosome with our hh-QF chromosome, which we generated with the HACK methodology. Together, this study generated two dual-driver tumor models, QQ-weaker and QQ-strong, which will expand the toolbox for mechanistic studies of
cachexia in Drosophila melanogaster
Involuntary Adherence in 20-21st Century Dystopian Literature: 'The Handmaid's Tale,' 'The Hunger Games,' and 'Parable of the Sower'
Full text linkBy using Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: the Origins of Our Discontents, a theoretical framework for caste-systems can be applied to the United States and used to support the theory of “Involuntary Adherence,” which analyzes the internalized responses one may have, provoked by the conditioning of the caste one resides under. By applying Wilkerson’s framework to the North American-based castes of Gilead in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), Panem in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games (2008), and the United States in Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower (1993), each of the novels’ protagonists can be seen both falling in line with and negating “Involuntary Adherence.” Alignment with the expectations of the caste—“Involuntary Adherence”—can then be analyzed as a subconscious means for survival for marginalized groups under systems of oppression. “Involuntary Adherence,” when applied to dystopian fiction, is oftentimes the protagonist’s only avenue of escaping the violence of their world without retaliation from the dominant caste. The negation of “Involuntary Adherence” then becomes acts of defiance to push back against the systems at large. In each of the three proposed novels, the protagonists—Offred, Katniss, and Lauren, respectively—contend with their proposed castes by both aligning with and negating the expectations placed upon them
DO NOT FORGET ABOUT US: INVESTIGATING THE EXPERIENCES OF BLACK MALE STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS AT PRIVATE COLLEGES IN TEXAS
Full text linkBlack male student affairs professionals face unique challenges within higher education
education, particularly at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs), yet research focusing specifically on Black male staff and administrators remains notably scarce compared to the extensive literature on Black faculty experiences (Banks et al., 2018; Gardner et al., 2014). Black men in student affairs often face isolation, questioning of their credentials, cultural taxation, and pressure to establish credibility while being limited to "token" roles in diversity-focused departments (Banks et al., 2018; Gardner et al., 2014; Kim et al., 2024). Private higher education institutions' autonomous nature may perpetuate discriminatory practices with less scrutiny, creating conditions where Black professionals
face tokenism and cultural taxation (Turner & Grauerholz, 2017). This study focuses on Texas private institutions because, unlike public universities affected by Senate Bill 17, which eliminated DEI funding, private institutions maintain autonomy to continue DEI programs (S.B. 17, 2023).
The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore how
Black male student affairs professionals at private institutions in Texas perceive the impact of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives on their professional experience. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five Black male student affairs professionals, and the sessions were recorded and transcribed for analysis. Participants were assigned pseudonyms to ensure confidentiality. Data were analyzed using Creswell and Poth's (2016) data analysis spiral approach, involving systematic coding and implementing a "lean coding" process that condensed codes into themes. Using Critical Race Theory, the following themes emerged: "The Exhaustion of Code-Switching," "Hope with a Side-Eye: Why I am Cautiously Optimistic About DEI's Future," "Professional Islands: How Institutional Barriers Create Isolation," "Finding Home: The Life-Giving Power of Black Spaces on Campus," and "Doing More, Getting Less: The Reality of Being Dependable." The Black men in this study entered these positions through an access, inclusion, and community framework. Once in these positions, they need intentional spaces, whether Employee Resource Groups, supervisors who share Black identity, or affinity spaces, to help with the internal battle of being authentic versus presenting a modified self. This study addresses gaps in the literature on Black male student affairs professionals by providing insights to help institutions develop effective support systems and enhance student retention