Adverse Childhood Experiences, Post-Traumatic Growth, and Social Support Predict Hypersexuality in College Students

This research examined whether suffering from sexual or domestic violence and/or other emotional and physical trauma during childhood (known as Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs) leads to unhealthy or destructive sexual behavior in adulthood. The goal was to replicate findings showing that ACEs increase risky sexual behavior and to extend this work to examine whether ACEs place a person at greater risk of hypersexuality. The extent to which having strong social support and experiencing post-traumatic growth mitigate the negative effects of ACEs was also examined. Results indicated that experiencing ACEs predicted more hypersexuality and risky sexual behavior, while post-traumatic growth predicted less hypersexuality. Social support did not predict hypersexuality or risky sexual behavior, although it was associated with greater post-traumatic growth. Results also revealed that those identifying as somewhat poor tended to report the highest number of ACEs, while those identifying as upper middle class reported the lowest number. In addition, those with low socioeconomic status (SES) reported more risky sexual behavior and hypersexuality. Furthermore, those whose parents both graduated from college reported the fewest number of ACEs. Age, gender, race, sexual orientation, and political alignment had no significant correlations with ACEs, hypersexuality, or risky sexual behavior. This suggests that economic and educational disadvantage rather than social identity creates risk of suffering from ACEs and their negative outcomes. These findings increase our understanding of the impact of ACEs and highlight risk factors, suggesting potential avenues for mitigating some of the devastating effects of adverse childhood experiences

Beary Bunz\u27s Brand Style Guide and Packaging

I wanted to rebuild that memory, that nostalgia I had and make it a brand. I created a style guide to represent all the design and marketing elements of a Japanese bakery, beary bunz. I wanted my research and design to constitute the bakery treats and design that will make you feel joy and happiness. I wanted to present my culture of savory sweets they made in Japan with a brand that\u27s connected to an Asian aesthetic

Interventions for “Best Practices” Teaching of an Introduction to Psychology Course

Since 2019, our lab has focused on best practices for supporting student learning in an introduction to psychology (PSYC 101) course. We discovered that, seemingly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the average, overall grades of students in PSYC 101 rapidly declined. As a result, our lab began introducing various intervention strategies in hopes of raising overall scores by maximizing student support and learning. These interventions (such as the use of teaching assistants, AI-driven discussion technology, alternative student-friendly communication, and peer-designed study guides) were added gradually in order to confirm that they were working and/or which would be most effective. One of the more impactful interventions was a low-cost, instructor designed textbook courtesy of Sykepack.com. This textbook was interactive, fit exactly with the course materials, and included built-in study tools like flash cards. Overall, the interventions have combined to significantly improve students’ overall grades (p andlt; 0.05) as current average grades are close to pre-pandemic levels. Research is still ongoing to identify which strategies, if any, are unnecessary or unhelpful and which have been most effective and/or could benefit from minor improvements

Targeted Individual: A Short Film About Alienation

Disinformation is not a new issue, however it is more prescient during the rise of the disinformation age, where we mostly get our information from social media . While social media has become a nearly essential tool for online communication, recent issues have revealed how the use of social media can lead to the dangerous spread of disinformation, even leading to the formation of movements, such as QAnon which refuses to accept information from outside of their own circles. This leads to harmful alienation, even between family members. Even though social media was a tool created to bring people together, in many cases, the spread of disinformation has led to relationships being torn apart. The big question is; How does one fall into such an improbable and often disproved way of thinking? I tell that story in a short film that features fictional characters who are affected by an online disinformation movement, and how social media consumption contributes to its spread

Fostering Resilience: Examining the Relationships Among Adversity, Self-Esteem, Resilience, and Risky Behaviors of College Students

Adverse childhood experience (ACEs) are alarmingly common, as indicated by research in recent decades. Common ACEs include physical, emotional, and sexual abuse in childhood as well as exposure to caregiver substance abuse, mental illness, and incarceration. Research indicates that a higher ACE score is linked with a plethora of long-term negative health consequences and risky behaviors throughout the lifespan. Although ACEs are prevalent, some individuals face adversity, yet rebound or even thrive. Individuals who bounce back display resilience, which can buffer against consequences linked to ACEs. Research indicates that self-esteem may be factor for developing resilience. This quantitative, cross-sectional study examined the potential relationships between past adversity, self-esteem, resilience, and risky behaviors among college students. Online surveys using measures of resilience, self-esteem, adversity, and the prevalence of risky behaviors were completed by students at southeastern United States universities. Results demonstrate connections among adversity, self-esteem, resilience, and risky behaviors. Study findings have implications for future resilience and self-esteem building interventions for young adult health and well-being

White Feminists\u27 Role in Universalizing the Female Experience

This paper questions the extent to which white feminists have used capitalism in order to further the feminist movement and how these methods may have overlooked women of color.Examples of the relationship between capitalism and the white feminist movement can be seen from the suffragette movement to modern Buzzfeed articles. Specifically, this paper will investigate mainstream feminism rather than scholarly feminist theory. Examples of this type of feminist advocacy include the popularization of the term “#girlboss” and the way that term was utilized by white feminists in a way that universalizes the experiences of all women. This paper explores the dangers of this generalization of women\u27s experience as it does not recognize the deep structures, such as patriarchy and racism, that grant privilege to white women and obstacles for women of color. This paper utilizes qualitative methods such as testimonies from women of color and white feminists, bringing in personal testimonies from Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In” and Koa Beck’s “White Feminism.” The paper concludes that white feminists often universalize the female experience and exclude minority women

The Female Temptress: Discussing Sexist Female Representation in Zamyatin’s \u3ci\u3eWe\u3c/i\u3e and Orwell’s \u3ci\u3e1984\u3c/i\u3e

In this project I aim to analyze the sexist depictions of women in both Zamyatin’s We and Orwell’s 1984 and how it pushes a dangerous sexist ideal. I aim to compare and contrast the similarities of both novels; Zamyatin’s novel heavily influenced Orwell’s and their main similarities are found in the novel’s depiction of women. Classic dystopian literature written by white male authors typically depicted harmful misogynistic representations that lack purpose besides being a plot device. The importance of applying a feminist lens to these novels is because of the way that dystopian novels are interpreted. Dystopian novels are meant to comment and highlight issues in our society and to hopefully facilitate change. Orwell and Zamyatin’s works are known for being commentary on Communism, but other interpretations are largely ignored. Ignoring the damaging effects of the misogyny deeply ingrained in the plot structure of these novels leads to a blind spot in social commentary. I argue that analyzing the dangerous nature of these sexist portrayals of women can be useful in pointing out commonplace sexism in our current world. I will bring in research on the female temptress architype that is found throughout dystopian and utopian literature, along with feminist commentary on dystopian novels. I will also bring in critical research on both We and 1984,comparing and contrasting both novels to shed light on their similarities and Zamyatin’s influence over Orwell’s creation

Exploring an Asian origami inspired cafe brand identity

I intend to design a cafe and bakery for the city of Rock Hill that is inspired by Asian bakeries while using visual elements from origami and paper cutouts. As for the audience, it will be intended for office workers, students, and anyone who enjoys cafes. This would be a new upcoming cafe center around the North and South Carolinas based in Rock Hill. Rock Hill is growing at a rapid pace so it may lead to more of a population growth in which this cafe can transpire in this thriving boom of a city. I plan for the cafe to encourage people to go out and gather at this premium peaceful cafe to enjoy all the asian delicacies with their friends, or for students and workers who want to grind in a cool and chilled environment. The cafe is about connecting different Asian cultures and exposing newcomers to new foods while enjoying a diverse blend of different delicacies from Eastern and Southeastern Asia. I believe the saying “less is more” is an important concept towards my thesis because in origami everything looks so simplified, yet it takes a very intricate process to get there. The project itself contains all the beloved things I love about graphic design, from web page design, food photography, and branding. I just have a huge appreciation for the bakers and the cafes themself to inspire me to create my very own. This thesis embodies what I would like to go into for the industry

Effects of TiO2 Nanoparticles on Fish Upper Thermotolerance

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles can be found in a wide variety of products such as sunscreen, soap, and even foods such as Mandamp;Ms. Due to their widespread use, these nanoparticles often find their way to aquatic environments making them a potential threat to aquatic organisms, which has stimulated a surge in research efforts toward understanding the environmental implications of nanotechnology. Our initial objective was to see if TiO2 inhibited fish’s ability to cope with increasing aquatic temperatures as this could present a dual threat when considering the effects of climate change on water temperature. To perform the experiment, we subjected four groups of fish separated into control, saline-injected, polyacrylic acid capsule injected, and TiO2 injected treatments to a critical thermal maximum (CTMax) test and sampled them after loss of equilibrium (LOE). The LOE temperatures for each fish were recorded and an ANOVA test comparing each treatment group to the control group revealed that the TiO2-injected fish demonstrated a significantly reduced thermal maximum compared to control fish. We now seek to find through what mechanisms TiO2 harms fish, and towards that end, we conducted histological analysis of two gill samples from each fish which revealed significantly higher interlamellar cell mass (ILCM) lengths than normal for all treatments, though there was no difference between treatments. We now plan to conduct molecular analysis of the heart, gills, spleen, kidney, and muscle samples to identify if gene expression was altered, and if so, then which genes are affected