ScholarWorks@Georgia State University
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Publication Embargo Examining Intersectional Stigma among Black Nonbinary Adults(2025)In recent years, the visibility of nonbinary genders has increased. Nonbinary individuals, who may also identify as genderqueer, gender fluid, or agender, complicate essentialist notions of a male/female binary, and as a result, often face heightened stigma compared to their cisgender and binary trans counterparts. This issue is particularly acute for Black nonbinary individuals, who experience the compounded effects of cisnormativity, transnormativity, white supremacy, alongside other intersecting forms of discrimination. However, to date, there has been no study focused specifically on the stigma experiences of Black nonbinary identities. This dissertation addresses that gap through a mixed-methods research design that triangulates semi-structured interviews, a focus group, online forum analysis, news media review, and critical policy analysis. Grounded in the concept of stigma power, and expanded through Patricia Hill Collins’ domains of power framework, the study examines how stigma operates across structural, cultural, disciplinary, and interpersonal contexts. Findings reveal that Black nonbinary people routinely navigate institutional abandonment, cultural erasure, policing, and diminished social support. Their stories provide critical insight into how stigma becomes embedded in policy, language, and everyday interactions, and they help illuminate what it will take to dismantle these systems. This study contributes to growing research on intersectional stigma among Black queer and transgender people and urges a shift in health, policy, and community frameworks toward affirming care, structural accountability, and collective liberation.Publication Open Access It's About to Get Weird Again: Exploring Predictors of Later Adulthood Trauma Reengagement Among Older Vietnam Veterans(2025-12)This dissertation examines predictors of later adulthood trauma reengagement (LATR) among aging Vietnam veterans using data from the National Vietnam Veterans Longitudinal Study (NVVLS) and its baseline, the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Survey (NVVRS). LATR is a developmental process during which older veterans intentionally revisit and attempt to reconcile wartime experiences as part of late-life meaning making. Although conceptually distinct from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the two are empirically related, and the conditions under which LATR emerges remain underexplored. Guided by the life course perspective and socioemotional selectivity theory, this study tested whether combat exposure, PTSD, retirement, marital status, and positive appraisals of military service predicted LATR or moderated the LATR-PTSD relationship. Analyses included 1,124 veterans with complete NVVLS data. LATR was measured using the Late-Onset Stress Symptomatology–Short Form (LOSS-SF), and PTSD with the Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related PTSD (M-PTSD). Twelve hypotheses were evaluated using multiple linear regression. Combat exposure, PTSD symptom severity, long-term course of PTSD, and concerns about retirement were independently associated with greater LATR scores. PTSD symptom severity partially mediated the associations between combat exposure and concerns about retirement with LATR, and fully mediated effects of employment status. LATR, marital status, and positive appraisals were significantly associated with PTSD symptom severity in late life; while marital status did not moderate the LATR–PTSD relationship, positive appraisals modestly buffered it. Findings highlight LATR as a normative process through which trauma is reexamined during major life transitions such as retirement. Results on combat exposure and PTSD suggest that the magnitude and persistence of trauma shape the impetus for late-life reflection. By centering the Vietnam cohort, this research reframes trauma reengagement as a multifaceted process shaped by historical context, resilience, and developmental stage. It offers critical insight into the aging trajectories of combat veterans and provides a foundation for clinical and policy efforts supporting meaning making among younger cohorts approaching retirement.Publication Embargo A Meta-Analytic Review of the Intersection of Lineup Type and the Cross-Race Effect(2025)Eyewitnesses to a crime face a myriad of challenges when identifying a perpetrator from a lineup. Research has shown that both estimator variables (i.e. those variables that the legal system does not control) and system variables (i.e., factors within the control of the lineup administrator that can also have a direct influence on the accuracy of the identification) can influence those eyewitness decisions (Wells, Memon, & Penrod, 2006). The current research focuses on both estimator and system influences: lineup type (e.g., the presentation style of the lineup) and the cross-race effect (e.g., the phenomenon by which identification accuracy is improved when the race of the eyewitness is congruent with that of the perpetrator). Several meta-analyses have been conducted on these topics separately (see Steblay et al. 2001, 2003, & 2011 for lineups and Anthony et al., 1992; Bothwell et al., 1989; Meissner & Brigham, 2001; & Lee & Penrod 2022 for cross-race effects), but none have examined if the cross-race effect varies by lineup type. The results of the current analysis indicate that the cross-race effect is present in all of the most commonly used lineup types.Publication Open Access Instructors' Experiences in the Technical College System of Georgia's eCampus Initiative(2025-11-05)Young people from rural areas have lower postsecondary enrollment rates and are less likely to obtain postsecondary credentials than their peers in other regions. Limited access to nearby institutions and fewer course offerings for rural learners contribute to this disparity. Online education programs can help address these gaps by providing rural learners—particularly those at technical and community colleges—with greater access to postsecondary education, a wider range of program offerings, and high-quality instruction. In 2021, the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) launched eCampus, an online learning initiative that expands existing college-specific offerings by enabling students to take courses and enroll in programs through any institution in the system. This report analyzes qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with 10 instructors who taught eCampus courses at technical colleges in Georgia. We conducted interviews between February and March 2025. The report documents instructors’ experiences and presents findings related to the structures instructors use to support students in eCampus courses, strengths of the eCampus model, and suggestions for improving instructor and student experiences in eCampus courses.Publication Open Access Wheat Fiber Suppresses Colitis via Microbiota-Dependent Macrophage Reprogramming and Peripheral Regulatory T Cell Induction(2025-11-04)The advent of highly-refined wheat products has contributed to reduced fiber consumption, which is associated with increased risk for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This led us to investigate whether enriching diets with wheat fiber (WF) impacts proneness to experimental colitis. Indeed, WF protected mice against dextran sodium salt (DSS)-induced acute colitis, especially relative to a low-fiber diet (LF), as demonstrated across clinical, histopathologic, morphologic, and immunologic parameters. Notably, WF-mediated protection was independent of short-chain acids (SCFA), but associated with preservation of microbiota diversity, including maintenance of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron (B. theta), which was necessary and sufficient for WF’s protective effect. B. theta’s presence in gnotobiotic mice harboring Altered Schaedler Flora (ASF) consortium enabled WF-induced production of fecal metabolites, including plant-derived polyphenol isofraxidin, which reprogrammed macrophages towards an M2-like phenotype. Metabolic and phenotypic reprogramming of macrophages ex vivo via WF-induced metabolites, followed by their adoptive transfer into mice, recapitulated WF’s protection against colitis. Additionally, we tested the impact of WF in a chronic T-cell-transfer colitis model, where Rag1-/- mice were fed either LF or WF diets and then administered CD45Rbhi T-cells. WF conferred robust protection as assessed by an array of clinical, histopathologic, morphologic, and immune-related parameters. This protection was associated with a microbiota-dependent increase in Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs), which could be recapitulated in vitro. However, WF did not increase Tregs in mice lacking conserved non-coding sequence 1 (CNS1), which is essential for peripheral Treg (pTreg) development, nor did WF protect against T-cell-transfer colitis driven by transplant of colitogenic T-cells from CNS1-/- mice, suggesting that pTregs are required for WF-mediated protection. Together, these findings indicate that WF reduces intestinal inflammation through microbiota-dependent reprogramming of macrophages and peripheral Treg induction, thereby suggesting potential mechanisms by which WF consumption may mitigate the development of IBD.
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