Feathers is a young adult novel about two knucklehead boys and a summer of mischief they share. Boots and Gopher, the two principal characters in Feathers, are twelve-year old boys who are fascinated by a loft of racing pigeons kept by a peculiar man living on the edge of their small town. The fascination leads them to steal a few pairs of pigeons in hopes of generating their own loft. Their plan is to release the adult pigeons back to the man's loft while Boots and Gopher keep the babies. In stealing the pigeons, they discover the man also houses falcons and hawks. Gopher becomes obsessed with falcons and begins a study of falconry. The obsession overrides better judgment and federal law, and the boys also steal a small kestrel falcon. They don't realize the gravity of the situation until a "wanted" poster is put up at the local feed store letting people know that a federal law has been broken. The story continues with the resolution of this conflict and the relationship that is developed between the young men and the old falconer. It is a story about consequences of seemingly simple acts; it also explores relationships between the boys and their parents, and between the boys and an unlikely mentor.

This study presents the analysis of Mormon characters in seven young adult novels: Emily Wing Smith's The Way He Lived and Back When You Were Easier to Love, Louise Plummer's A Dance for Three, A.E. Cannon's Charlotte's Rose, Kimberly Heuston's The Shakeress, Susan Campbell Bartoletti's The Boy Who Dared, and Angela Morrison's Taken by Storm. The characters in these novels are negatively stereotyped as typical Mormons. In four of the novels, the characters are stereotyped by other Mormon characters. In two of the novels, the characters are stereotyped by non-Mormon characters. The Mormon narrators in six of the novels prove the stereotypes incorrect, but the last novel, Taken by Storm, portrays a Mormon character fitting the stereotype. In all of the novels, the faith of the characters influences how they act, think, and speak.

This is a high fantasy novel about Iníon Ríúil, a girl who discovers she has the ability to manipulate magic. Two weeks before Iní­'s seventeenth birthday, thieves attack their home and her grandmother is murdered. After her grandmother's death, Iní­ goes in search of the father she has never met and ends up joining the Magical Alliance, where she learns more about her unique skills. Iní­ is a full conduit, someone who possesses all four of the possible conduit abilities: shielding, absorption, transformation, and amplification. Because someone has been kidnapping other conduits, the Magical Alliance assigns guardians for her protection: a goblin, an elf, and another being whose exact race is unknown. Iní­ and her guardians are assigned to find out more about the bloodstone, an ancient relic made to function the same as conduits, something the Races thought long destroyed. They suspect the dragons to be looking for the bloodstone and worry its discovery could start a war. The culminating challenges in the novel involve Iní­ finding the bloodstone and learning the identity of her father.

Thesis advisor: Theresa O'Keefe / The landscape of religious belonging is rapidly changing in the United States. This dissertation contributes to conversations concerned with how to engage young adults in faith development in the rise of religious disaffiliation. This dissertation specifically engages the lived reality that while many young women struggle with belonging in the Catholic Church, they are negotiating ways to participate and resist from within the community of the faithful. An experience of ambivalence often manifests from the dialectical nature of this negotiation. Drawing from the work of religious scholar Mary Bednarowski, I argue that ambivalence, cultivated as a virtue, can serve as a prophetic posture from which to participate in transforming the Church. I suggest a narrative pedagogical approach of critique, conserve, and transform to encourage prophetic participation. The articulation of ambivalent belonging towards institutional religion can serve as an access point for belonging and faith development for young adult women. This work is rooted in an ecclesiology that articulates the ambivalent nature of the pilgrim Church, grounded in the vision of Vatican II, that is open to how the Spirit is working through all the faithful, revealing God’s hope-filled mission in the world. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry.

Researchers in this study set out to explore the young single adult male experience of being "older" in the LDS church where marriage by the age of 25 is emphasized. Guided by the Life Course Perspective, a qualitative study was designed that surveyed 43 single men in the greater Washington DC area between the ages of 25-31. The survey was administered electronically and consisted of 20 demographic and open-ended questions. Questions were geared towards understanding how LDS men make sense of their experience of being older and single in the Church as well as the influence their social groups have on their experience. Thematic analysis of participant responses revealed two major themes: "It just hasn't worked out yet," and "I'm failing." Further findings suggest themes of not fitting in, the clock is ticking, the women's role, and wanting to get married for the right reasons. Additional sub-themes are addressed as well as their clinical implications and suggestions for further research. / Master of Science

Yes / One of the main challenges developing nations face is curbing bribery. While there are many efforts to curb bribery, most focused at macro level, such as law, while little has been examined at the micro level, e.g., individual behavior and intention. Those who did investigate at the micro level tend to focus on the recipients rather than the ones giving the bribe. We explored eight factors that influence Malaysian young adults’ bribe giving intention based on the Reasoned Action Approach (RAA). A total of 345 respondents (M age = 20.68, SD = 2.01, 189 are females) completed questionnaires about all RAA variables. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was carried out using smartPLS3.0 to analyze the result. The result revealed that out of the eight variables, four variables—Instrumental attitudes, Experiential Attitudes, Parents’ descriptive norms and Capacity—explain 74% of the variance in bribe giving intention. An important take-away is that young adult’s perception of whether their parents gave or did not give bribes in a given situation is important in influencing their bribe giving intention. Bribe giving prevention messages must be targeted explicitly toward parents, where they play a crucial role in curbing this dishonesty.

Social media has found its way into almost everyone’s cellphone. Being a primary source for news, connection, and inspiration, it only continues to gain popularity. Social media, however, is not good 100% of the time. The dominant explanation for the effect of social media on wellbeing varies from digital stress, compromised sleep, and body image disturbances. This paper explores the correlation between daily time spent on social media, number of platforms used, and overall sense of wellbeing. Sleepiness is also assessed, and a correlation is explored using the previous variables. Previous research primarily focuses on the amount of time spent on social media as a whole but fails to explore the use of multiple platforms regularly. This is important in terms of digital stress and communication overload which can come from notifications from several platforms. This paper, however, focuses solely on social media in terms of daily time spent and the number of platforms utilized. Participants completed a self—paced online survey at the University of Central Florida.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been studied for the last two decades and are associated with a large number of mental health problems. However, existing research has yet to explore the underlying mechanisms that might affect the relationship between ACEs and mental health outcomes, particularly in terms of contextual influence. The present study examined the individual and conjoint effects of ACEs, coping, and campus climate on depressive and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, exploring the moderating effects of coping and campus climate among a diverse sample of young adults. In addition to that, racial/ethnic identity and gender/sexual identity were tested as a potential moderator in the relationship among ACEs, coping strategies, campus climate and mental health outcomes, in which the relationship was hypothesized to be different depending on one’s identity. Data for this study were collected from 423 college students who completed a set of questionnaires. The survey assessed socio-demographic variables, ACEs, coping strategies, campus climate, depressive, and PTSD symptoms. By examining the effects of ACEs, campus climate, coping, and individual identity on mental health outcomes simultaneously, the study results suggest that coping and campus climate moderate the relationship between ACEs and PTSD, and it varies depending on individual identity. The findings highlight the importance of culturally sensitive and appropriate interventions and services for diverse college students who are at elevated risk for the development of mental health problems.

Bakgrund: Långvarig smärta är ett vanligt förekommande tillstånd, även bland unga vuxna. Smärtproblematik leder ofta till inskränkningar i det dagliga livet, till exempel genom minskad fysisk aktivitet vilket kan leda till försämrad funktionsförmåga. Vid komplex långvarig smärta rekommenderas ofta multimodala smärtrehabiliteringsprogram i syfte att förbättra funktionsförmågan. Det saknas dock i dagsläget kunskap om hur dessa program upplevs av unga vuxna patienter. Syfte: Att undersöka hur unga vuxna med långvarig smärta upplever ett multimodalt smärtrehabiliteringsprogram och hur de upplevt att deltagande i programmet påverkat deras fysiska funktionsförmåga och tankar om fysisk aktivitet Metod: En kvalitativ, semistrukturerad intervjustudie. Tio deltagare rekryterades utifrån ett bekvämlighetsurval. Databearbetning skedde med hjälp av kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Deltagarna i studien upplevde att de under smärtrehabiliteringsprogrammet var i en trygg miljö där de blev förstådda. De hittade nya förhållningssätt med ökad acceptans och tilltro till den egna förmågan. Många beskrev ett nytt sätt att se på att vara fysiskt aktiv trots smärta, där viktiga faktorer var att lyssna på kroppen och anpassa aktiviteten efter dagsformen. Flera deltagare önskade att rehabiliteringsprogrammet hade haft ett större fokus på fysisk aktivitet. Slutsats: Studien visade att unga vuxna patienter med långvarig smärta som genomgick ett smärtrehabiliteringsprogram upplevde sig vara i ett sammanhang där de blev förstådda och bekräftade. Programmet resulterade i nya kunskaper som underlättade vardagen och nya förhållningssätt till ett liv med smärta och till att vara fysiskt aktiv. Fortsatt forskning inom området är av vikt för att säkerställa att patientgruppen erbjuds väl utformad rehabilitering / Background: Chronic pain is a common diagnosis, also among young adults. Pain conditions often have an impact on daily life by causing patients to be less physically active and hence affecting their functional capacity. In order to improve functional capacity, multimodal rehabilitation programmes are often recommended. However, there is a significant knowledge gap in how young adults with chronic pain experience such programmes. Objective: To examine young adults’ experience of participating in a multimodal pain rehabilitation programme, and how they consider the programme having affected their functional capacity and thoughts about being physically active. Method: A qualitative, semi structured interview study. Ten participants were recruited based on convenience sampling. The data analysis was performed using qualitative content analysis. Results: The participants described the rehabilitation programme as a safe and validating environment. They were helped to develop a new, more accepting, approach to life with pain. Many participants described a new attitude towards physical activity, which involved paying attention to signals from the body and adjusting activities accordingly. Several participants wished for the programme to have a greater focus on physical activity. Conclusion: The study shows that young adults with chronic pain experienced being understood and validated when attending a rehabilitation programme. The programme provided new skills that improved daily life, and gave rise to new attitudes towards a life with pain and the possibility of being physically active. More research on the subject is important in order to ensure that young adults with chronic pain are offered well suited rehabilitation programmes.

<p>Throughout my project, I focus on contemporary young adult historical fantasies that engage with legacies of systemic racism and Western Imperialism—a publishing trend that has developed due to an increased call for stories of racial inclusion in YA literature. These texts aim to create a more inclusive historical imagination by telling fictionalized histories that center people of color. Given the current political climate surrounding Critical Race Theory, my project analyzes how these texts both challenge and inadvertently perpetuate the logic of systemic racism. I argue that these historical fantasies attempt to acknowledge and untangle legacies of racism for audiences who, in the face of today’s reactionary political climate, may very well not be taught about them in their schools. My approach focuses on how, in their exploration of racism, these novels attempt corrective representation in the context of current social justice and racial reckoning movements, and grapple with the legacy of institutional racism in the here and now. As such, my project argues that we not only need diverse books in Western young adult fiction, but we also need more books that are willing to confront the persistent problems of systemic racism without perpetuating racial stereotypes or Eurocentric viewpoints. </p>