HawkWorks
The Institutional Repository for the University of Houston-Clear Lake
HawkWorks is a digital service provided by the UHCL Libraries that preserves and provides access to the scholarship and creative works produced and owned by the University of Houston-Clear Lake community.
Communities in HawkWorks
Select a community to browse its collections.
- An open-access digital archive for the scholarly output of UHCL four colleges (Business, Education, Humans Sciences and Humanities, and Science and Engineering), including theses and dissertations.
- Digitized collection of historical theses, dissertations, and graduate projects created by University of Houston-Clear Lake graduates
- A collection of electronic theses, dissertations, and graduate projects created by University of Houston-Clear Lake graduates
- Materials and finding aids from the University of Houston-Clear Lake Archives and Special Collections' three collecting areas and the Johnson Space Center History Collection.
- Collection of scholarly output from UHCL faculty, staff, and students, including academic publications, working papers, technical reports, & white papers, and conference papers, posters, & presentations
Recent Submissions
How a Threat to Women's Healthcare in the U.S. Could Lead to a Liberal Shift
(2023-11-30) Swanson, Kelly; Johnston, Amanda M.; Moreno, Georgina L.
Literature on traditional ideas of threat, such as terrorism, primarily shows increased support for political conservatism (Jost et al., 2003; 2007), while little research exists on how broader conceptualizations of threat may increase support for liberalism. The current research aims to extend findings from Eadeh and Chang (2020), exploring how threat may influence support for liberal ideology. Two between-subjects experiments were conducted focusing on healthcare threats at the group and individual level. The preliminary study (Experiment 1) explored perceptions of threat to women’s healthcare and found healthcare threats to be perceived as similarly threatening to terrorism. Using a pretest-posttest design, the primary study (Experiment 2) explored possible shifts in political attitudes after exposure to healthcare threats. Results show an increase in liberal healthcare beliefs after exposure to the “individual” healthcare threat, but not the “group” healthcare threat. Moral foundations of care/harm (Haidt & Graham, 2007) were also explored in addition to the importance and relevance of women’s healthcare. Implications for future research on threat and political ideology are discussed.
Child Emotion-Regulation and Parent Psychological Flexibility Following an Integrated ACT-PMT Intervention for ADHD
(2023-05-11) Nguyen, Thu Anh; Elkins, Sara R; Short, Mary B; Walther, Christine A.P.
Emotion dysregulation symptoms in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are common, and recent research suggests emotion dysregulation should be regarded as a central clinical feature of ADHD. Parent management training (PMT) is an empirically supported treatment and one of the most widely used behavioral interventions for ADHD. Although research supports its efficacy, child clinical characteristics, such as emotion regulation can influence PMT outcome. As emotion regulation is not a diagnostic criterion of ADHD, it is less often a primary treatment target in PMT for ADHD and is not directly measured in outcomes. Thus, PMT’s effects on emotion regulation have been under-evaluated. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a third-wave behavioral therapy that addresses negative internal experiences which may interfere with effective implementation of parenting strategies. Recent studies examining ACT in a parenting context have shown parallels between ACT processes and PMT goals, which may specifically address parenting factors beneficial to child emotion regulation. The current study examined the effects of an integrated ACT-PMT intervention for ADHD on child emotion regulation and parent psychological flexibility. The intervention included a two-session ACT intervention for parents and an eight-session PMT program with integrated ACT components. Data were drawn from an existing dataset from a larger single-case experimental design study examining feasibility and acceptability of the ACT-PMT intervention. Participants included five families (six total parents) with children ages 9-12 with a primary diagnosis of ADHD. Study phases included in the analyses were baseline, intervention (ten sessions), and follow-up phase. Norm-based measures were collected at each phase, and daily measures were collected throughout the entire intervention from baseline to follow-up. Findings suggested that parents engaged in use of experiential acceptance and defusion, and half of children experienced significant improvement in emotion regulation during the intervention. Most changes unfolded in a linear pattern at the beginning of the intervention or showed delayed linear improvement after session four. This is consistent with prior research highlighting the benefit of education and therapeutic alliance in early sessions and delayed improvement in skills such as psychological flexibility. Results from sequencing of change also showed that changes in parental defusion and child emotion regulation occurred concurrently for most cases, while no clear sequence was observed between parental acceptance and child emotion regulation. Results provide preliminary support for the benefits of ACT-PMT on parental psychological flexibility and child emotion regulation in ADHD.
Conservative White Women: How Fear of Crime Perpetuates the Patriarchy
(2021-12-07) Lansford, Haley; Johnston, Amanda; Lucas, Amy
To understand White women’s political-ideological perspectives, two studies were conducted. I examined White women’s attitudes regarding fear of being a victim of crime, patriarchal beliefs, attitudes towards police discrimination, attributes in a presidential candidate, sexism, and trait preferences in a romantic partner. Through correlational analyses, I found that White women who believe the world is dangerous and fear being a victim of crime are more likely to endorse a conservative ideology. In addition, when White women endorse a conservative ideology, they are more likely to desire a president and romantic partner with dominant traits. Through both studies, I uncover a better understanding of why White women endorse and perpetuate patriarchal beliefs in exchange for protection.
Analysis of Mutations in the Pma1 Plasma Membrane Atpase Proton Pump That Suppress a Temperature Sensitive Growth Defect Phenotype Of Vacuolar Membrane Atpase Proton Pump Deficient Saccharomyces Cerevisiae
(2022-05-12) Pylypchuk, Kateryna; Wasko, Brian; Stephens, Brian; Rashid, Bazlur
The P-type proton pump, Pma1p and the vacuolar H+-ATPase (V-ATPase) proton pump play significant roles in balancing pH homeostasis in eukaryotic cells. In budding yeast, the PMA1 gene is critical for yeast survival, whereas mutations compromising V-ATPase activity cause conditional lethality. The yeast VMA21 gene encodes for the chaperone protein Vma21 that is required for complete assembly of the multisubunit V-ATPase complex. The loss of vacuolar acidity due to deficiency of V-ATPase activity has been linked to disrupted growth phenotypes. Yeast vma21 deficient mutants exhibit sensitivity to cold temperatures, CaCl2 and acetic acid. This sensitivity can be suppressed by a Pma1-G158S mutation suggesting an interdependence between Pma1p and the V-ATPase. In this study, we address how Pma1-G158S mutation affects wildtype and V-ATPase deficient cells in response to changes in extracellular conditions. Using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology, we performed site-directed mutagenesis of G158 in an attempt to analyze structure-function relationships at this amino acid position. Our observations suggest that mutations at this position may regulate aging phenotype and cellular dysfunctions in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and multicellular eukaryotes.
Childhood Maltreatment and Academic Outcomes in College
(2022-07-05) Turner, Jennalee; Strait, Gerald G; Strait, Julia E; Elkins, Sara
Individuals face numerous challenges throughout their lifetimes, and for many this may lead to problematic academic outcomes. More specifically, a history of childhood maltreatment impacts biological and cognitive processes, which can affect levels of academic engagement, perceived academic stress, school connectedness, and overall academic performance. This study investigates the relationship between college students’ self-reported childhood maltreatment and GPA, and seeks to determine if academic engagement (AE), perceived academic stress (PAS), and school connectedness (SC) mediate the relationship between childhood maltreatment and GPA. It was hypothesized that there is a significant relationship between childhood maltreatment and GPA, and that separately, academic engagement, perceived academic stress, and school connectedness will partially mediate the relationship. To test the hypotheses, data was collected from online self-report surveys completed by college students to assess childhood maltreatment, perceived academic stress, school connectedness, and academic engagement (N = 309). The results found that the relationship between childhood maltreatment and GPA was not significant but childhood maltreatment was related to SC, AE, and PAS. Additionally, in models that did not control for the variance explained by the other hypothesized mediators, childhood maltreatment had significant indirect effects on GPA through AE and PAS, but not SC; however, when accounting for other mediators in the model, the individual indirect effects through each specific mediator were not significant. Finally, AE, PAS, and SC together mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and GPA. This study establishes that experiences of maltreatment during childhood can negatively impact academic performance in college by decreasing academic engagement and increasing perceived academic stress.