Browsing by Author "Abner, John Paul"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    The Emotional Implications of Adopting a Drug Exposed Child
    (2021-03-22) Gamble, Caroline; Abner, John Paul
    Adopting children who were prenatally drug exposed may lead to stresses and concerns for adoptive parents. This qualitative research study examined the emotional implications of adopting a drug exposed child. This is a vastly under studied area. This study sought to create awareness of the emotional challenges of parenting drug exposed children. The study was conducted through semi-structured interview of three adoptive mothers. Analysis of the data revealed four overarching themes: developmental concerns for the child; change in home life and family relationships; the importance of resources; and the overall emotional impact of raising a drug exposed child. This research examines the role that each of these themes play in the emotional implications of adopting a drug exposed child. Findings may aid in the creation of appropriate training and interventions to promote emotionally healthy adoptive families of children who were prenatally drug exposed.
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    The Impact of Virtual Reality Technology on Public Speaking Anxiety
    (2021-04) Mitchell, Amber; Abner, John Paul
    Individuals struggle with anxiety ranging from that of mild to severe anxiety disorders, which require much more in-depth treatment. This single participant design explored how effective the use of publicly available virtual reality (VR) technology, through an application called Virtual Speech, is in treating anxiety at a subclinical level, using a student in a speech class with public speaking anxiety. This participant filled out a questionnaire about their speech prior to giving the speech, after partaking in a required speech lab, and after the speech was given in class. This questionnaire sought to understand the thought processes and the physical reactions to the speech. I hypothesized that would be a decrease in anxiety with each questionnaire, but actually resulted in a varied level of anxiety. The potential limitation to the data is the impact that rehearsal helped to reduce anxiety, as well as a need for one additional questionnaire to have been given after the speech lab. As the student gave the speech multiple times, there is a chance that the reduction in anxiety has to do more with being better prepared for the speech, thus reducing the anxiety.
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    Perceptions of Law Enforcement According to Age, Race, and Gender
    (2023-03) Griffin, Kelli; Abner, John Paul
    In recent years, the public has become increasingly concerned with interactions regarding law enforcement. This growing concern has fostered the development of various studies in which participants provide their sentiments pertaining to police officers. The current study aimed to analyze the perspectives of both college students and the general public by utilizing an identical survey in two separate pools. Participants were tasked with selecting adjectives they believed best represented their perceptions of law enforcement. In addition to this, participants were also asked to provide a percentage of officers they believed represented a single adjective presented. In general, Milligan students viewed officers more positively as opposed to the general public. A significant difference was found between political party and perception of officers. The current study elucidates the attitudes of individuals from multiple backgrounds in an attempt to encourage empathy from the perspectives of civilians and law enforcement alike.
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    The Relationship Between Self-Efficacy, Autonomy Support, and Academic Motivation among Students at Milligan University
    (2023-04-13) Kennedy, Ashlynn; Abner, John Paul
    There are many different factors that all coincide in their effects on students’ academic success. These factors include a student’s academic motivation, personal self-efficacy, as well as the autonomy support they receive from parents or guardians. These factors, as well as others, have been proven to have individual effects on students, but have yet to be correlated with one another. A survey was distributed amongst students at Milligan University, which included Vallerand’s Academic Motivation Scale (1992, 28 questions), the P-PASS, or Perceived Parental Autonomy Support Scale (2015, 24 questions), and the New General Self-Efficacy Scale (2001, 8 questions). 67 students completed the survey, with 56 containing usable data. All data was organized under a 2-tailed T-test, and each scale was correlated with the others at the P < 0.01 level. This information grants a greater understanding of the effects of outside factors on the motivation behind a college student’s academic success, and will hopefully allow for further research on better ways to support students in their academic endeavors.
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    Subjective Well-Being, Perceived Stress, and Social Connectedness in Collegiate Athletes
    (2020-04) Rice, James; Abner, John Paul
    While being an athlete is associated with lower levels of depressive symptomatology, it does not necessitate higher levels of subjective well-being (SWB). This study had two purposes: (1) to determine if athletes within a given sample would display average or above average levels of SWB and (2) to determine if stress and social connectedness are respectively negatively and positively correlated with SWB on a significant level as opposed to their relationship with depression, which is respectively positive and negative. This was a correlational study involving 49 students (32 females, 17 males) at Milligan College, TN, USA. Each filled out an online questionnaire administered through email which included the following measures: the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Social Connectedness Scale-Revised (SCS-R), and the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ). Data was collected through qualtrics and analyzed by input to a Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient calculator. The results supported that athletes within the sample displayed average levels SWB. Additionally, stress and social connectedness were negatively and positively correlated with SWB, and negatively correlated with each other on the significant level. These results suggest the two factors could have moderated SWB, resulting in average levels. There is also the possibility that other individual factors come into play with moderating SWB, as is also the case with depression. Limitations to the study included a relatively small sample size and that it was cross-sectional rather than longitudinal.