Whitney DeCamp

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Western Michigan University | WMU · Department of Sociology

The use of peremptory challenges in American criminal trials has been found to be racially discriminatory despite race-based motivation being unconstitutional in jury selection. One argument made in defense of peremptory challenges is that the prosecution and the defense counteract each other, and “cancel out” each other’s impact. Using data from 2...

Online learning in higher education has been increasing for many years. This is happening across all of higher education and it is happening more specifically within STEM fields. The growth of online learning has significantly accelerated the past couple of years during the COVID-19 pandemic as colleges and universities have sought ways to continue...

Gender- and race-based discrimination in jury selection is unconstitutional in the United States. Nevertheless, court cases and empirical evidence suggest that discrimination on such characteristics, especially race, continues to occur through peremptory challenges. Statistical evidence of the gender effect, however, is more limited and has not pre...

Politicians, health officials, and scholars have argued that loot boxes (virtual items that can be redeemed to receive randomly selected other virtual items) in video games function as a type of gambling, and research has shown that loot box purchasing is correlated with gambling behaviors. Whether loot box purchasing shares other characteristics w...

Objectives The use of race as a motive for excluding individuals from serving on juries in American criminal trials is unconstitutional. Nevertheless, Black individuals remain substantially more likely than others to be removed during jury selection through peremptory challenges. This study tests whether and to what extent there is a racial effect...

The use of online instruction for undergraduate STEM courses is growing rapidly. While researchers and practitioners have access to validated instruments for studying the practice of teaching in face-to-face classrooms, analogous tools do not yet exist for online instruction. These tools are needed for quality design and control purposes. To meet t...

Human behavior in cyber space is extremely complex. Change is the only constant as technologies and social contexts evolve rapidly. This leads to new behaviors in cybersecurity, Facebook use, smartphone habits, social networking, and many more. Scientific research in this area is becoming an established field and has already generated a broad range...

Although online courses have been a part of academia for nearly 30 years, they are still perceived as “different” than face-to-face instruction. Through in-depth interviews with four instructors, we explored how STEM faculty approach teaching asynchronous online undergraduate STEM courses. The faculty interviewed for this study viewed online course...

Loot boxes are virtual items that can be redeemed to receive randomly selected other virtual items, and have been criticized for being similar to gambling. The presence of loot boxes in video games has dramatically increased since 2010, with little evidence available for the current prevalence rate of loot box purchasing in the general population,...

Purpose: Evidence-based program registries (EBPRs) are web-based databases of evaluation studies that summarize the available evidence for the effectiveness of behavioral healthcare programs, including programs addressing substance misuse, mental health, child welfare, or offender rehabilitation. The study determined the extent to which visitors t...

Evidence-based program resources (EBPR) websites evaluate behavioral health programs, practices or policies (i.e., interventions) according to a predetermined set of research criteria and standards, usually resulting in a summary rating of the strength of an intervention’s evidence base. This study is a mixed-methods analysis of the peer-reviewed a...

Background: Evidence-based program resources (EBPR) websites for behavioral health are a potentially useful tool to assist decision-makers and practitioners in deciding which behavioral health interventions to implement. EBPR websites apply rigorous research standards to assess the effectiveness of behavioral healthcare programs, models, and clinic...

Evidence-based program registries (EBPRs) are web-based compilations of behavioral healthcare programs/interventions that rely on research-based criteria to rate program efficacy or effectiveness for support of programmatic decision-making. The objective was to determine the extent to which behavioral health decision-makers access EBPRs and to unde...

Quantitative research on video games often reduces participants' gaming experience to how much time they spend playing video games. Although appropriate in some instances, it often fails to capture aspects of the video game experience. Studies that only use time as a means of establishing expertise in gaming fail to capture how much a player is inv...

Violent video games have been the subject of much news and analysis. One area of the debate, particularly in legal arenas, has been whether parents have or should have control over what games their children play. Despite such debates, only limited empirical research has examined whether parents actually do have influence over what games their child...

This pilot study investigated the efficacy of a manualized group treatment for adult survivors of polyvictimization and complex trauma (N = 116). Participants were assessed at baseline (waitlist), pre-intervention, and post-intervention. Scores statistically significantly improved on measures of symptom distress (Outcome Questionnaire-45 and Trauma...

Using data from a social program that provides one year of wraparound services and housing first to chronically homeless adults with mental health and substance abuse problems, this study examines changes in victimization experiences before and during treatment, and the relationship between victimization, housing placement, and risky behaviors. The...

The view that religion, as a source of moral guidance and social support, can function to prevent or protect individuals, especially children and adolescents, from a range of deviant and delinquent behaviors is largely (but not completely) born out in the literature. In nations with strong religious identities such as the USA, there is a normative...

Literature on substance use and academic performance suggests, overall, that students' use of alcohol, marijuana, or other illicit drugs has a negative effect on academic performance, but generally has not included the full range of substances or incorporated statistical controls in a single model. Using school-level data, multilevel regression ana...

Although extensive evidence supports a relationship between victimization and offending, research has been limited in focusing on this association during only a brief period in the life course. Existing research has not adequately considered the influence of early-onset problem behaviors on victimization and offending later in life. This study adva...

For roughly two decades, academics, politicians, and the media have debated the relationship between playing violent video games and engaging in violent acts. Despite the extensive attention paid to this possible outcome, no such spotlight has been placed on what leads to youth playing violent video games, which would provide the necessary context...

Despite decades of study, no scholarly consensus has emerged regarding whether violent video games contribute to youth violence. Some skeptics contend that small correlations between violent game play and violence-related outcomes may be due to other factors, which include a wide range of possible effects from gender, mental health, and social infl...

Objective: The purpose of this research is to examine cigarette, alcohol, marijuana, steroids, and other drug use among high school and college students in the state of Delaware. This builds on previous research examining the dynamics of substance use and sports participation. Methods: The data come from the Delaware High School Youth Risk Behavior...

Research on the effects of playing video games has been limited by a preoccupation with possible negative repercussions. Nevertheless, research has shown that video games can have positive effects on young players' social lives. The existing body of research, however, has largely ignored the more computer-related aspects of video game play and its...

The concern over the nonmedical use of prescription drugs (NMUPD) has increased in recent years, as the public and substance use experts become increasingly aware of the high prevalence of such prescription drug use. Despite increased research in this area, little research has focused on the motivations for NMUPD. This is a noteworthy limitation, a...

Incentivizing survey participation through the use of cash or other rewards has often been used to encourage participation. This is often done with the hopes of increasing response rates and, therefore, representativeness of the responding sample as well. The effectiveness of incentives has generally been shown to be positive, but results have been...

Background: Researchhas suggested that sexual minority youth are more likely to experience a number of behavioral and health-related risk factors due to their exposure to negative attitudes and beliefs about sexual minorities. Few studies, however, have examined the prevalence of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among sexual minority youth. With se...

Incentivizing survey participation through the use of cash or other rewards has often been used to encourage participation. This is often done with the hopes of increasing response rates and, therefore, representativeness of the responding sample as well. The effectiveness of incentives has generally been shown to be positive, but results have been...

Accident prevention is at the core of every workplace safety program, and understanding how an accident happens is truly the first step in preventing future recurrence. The protection officer often plays a role in accident investigations. Knowing how a series of events can result in an injury is important to providing a quality investigation to the...

Whether conducting large research projects or managing a small staff, research and statistics provide a valuable source of information. This chapter discusses how to collect and analyze quantitative data in a manner applicable for security management and supervision. More advanced statistical methods discussed here also help to guide more critical...

Although research on the age–crime curve has made significant advances in the past few decades, the understanding of victimization has not benefited to the same degree. The present study examines the age–victim curve to explore victimization trajectories, which increases understanding of risks over time through different life pathways. Using data f...

In recent years, it has been suggested that technological and scientific advancements have made the world a safer place, yet the fear of risk and threats to safety is higher than ever. This theory suggests that people are increasingly basing decisions about risk behaviors on the potential impact on their reputation. Specifically, the stigma of taki...

The Grasmick et al. (1993) scale is one of the most frequently used measures in criminology. Regardless of how commonly the scale is used, questions remain about its dimensionality and the nature of forming a composite measure from its 24 individual components. This study examines whether a composite measure is the most effective method for using t...

Although much research has explored bullies and bullying victims, little has been done to explore the long-term effects on those who have been bullied. Separately, a growing body of evidence suggests that there is a victim–offender overlap, in which many victims are or become offenders themselves. Taken together, this suggests that bullying victims...

Prior research has indicated an inverse relationship between religion and criminal behavior; however, few studies have specifically examined the effect of spirituality on the desistance process among a contemporary and diverse sample of reentering drug-involved offenders. A comprehensive understanding of how spirituality is related to desistance fr...

In the debated topic of violent video games and violent behavior, empirical evidence has been mixed. Some studies support the assertion that there is a causal or correlational link between gaming and violence, whereas others do not find such support. Recent advances have demonstrated that adequately controlling for background characteristics that m...

Although prescription opioid misuse (POM) has serious implications for the mental and physical health of military veterans, relatively few studies utilize veteran samples. Additionally, POM studies that are grounded in theoretical models of drug use are very rare. As a result, the theoretical links that may explain POM among veterans are not well-u...

The adolescent drug problem places a huge toll on society and a heavy burden on the criminal justice system. Research regarding the benefits of therapeutic community (TC) treatment for adolescents has shown it to be effective. Despite the ability of therapeutic communities to lower drug relapse and reduce criminality, a great deal remains unknown i...

The problem of adolescent drug use places a huge toll on society and a heavy burden on the criminal justice system. Despite the ability of therapeutic communities (TCs) to lower drug relapse, a great deal remains unknown in terms of how the process of treatment actually works for adolescents. Using data collected as part of the Drug Abuse Treatment...

Prior research indicates that assuming family roles, such as parent or spouse, can aid in the transition from prison to the community and has been linked to positive outcomes after a period of confinement. Using data from a longitudinal study of men returning to the community after incarceration, this study examines how the relationship between fat...

Research has found that many characteristics are related to performance on standardized tests. Many of these are not necessarily “academic” attributes. One area of this research is on the connection between physical health or lifestyles and test performance. The research that exists in this area is often disconnected with each other and tends to fo...

Nonmedical use of prescription drugs has become a serious social problem among American youth. Two general categories of motives for the nonmedical use of prescription drugs include self-treatment and recreational use. This study assesses differences between nonmedical prescription drug users based on their self-reported motivation for using prescr...

Although research over the past few decades has illustrated that gender is a significant predictor of victimization, there has been less attention toward explaining these differences. Furthermore, there has been little attention given to how offending and other deviant behaviors contribute to victimization risk for males and females. This is surpri...

Throughout the past decade, numerous states have passed legislation to prohibit the sale of violent video games to children, usually in conjunction with an argument that exposure to violent media increases violent behavior. However, the link between video games and violence is not yet fully understood. This study uses propensity score matching as a...

Modern desistance research has examined many facets of desistance, in terms of theoretical predictors of desistance and recidivism, and in terms of differing types of offending. Though predicting desistance from illegal drug use is among these topics, no research to date has examined the predictors of desisting from prescription opioid abuse. This...

Analysts argue that the Internet can democratize the construction of social problems and reduce claimsmakers' dependence on coverage in traditional media. This paper examines Internet claims about the relative sizes of 2010 rallies on the Washington, D.C. National Mall hosted by Glenn Beck and Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert. Because crowd size is unde...

Since Gottfredson and Hirschi’s A General Theory of Crime was published in 1990, self-control has become a major focus in criminological theory and research and the issue of measuring self-control has been the topic of many debates. Much of this research has used Grasmick and colleagues’ 1993 attitudinal scale. In 2004, Hirschi provided a new defin...

In recent years, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among adolescents has been identified as alarmingly common place. Some studies have suggested that more than one in eight adolescents have engaged in self-cutting or other self-injuring behaviors. Even more of a concern is that self-injury often foreshadows suicide or suicide attempts. With self-cutt...

Despite much focus on school violence, there has been little research that explores the relationship between offending and victimization in various school climates. School climate theory suggests that the school's social system, culture, milieu, and ecological structure affect student outcomes including academic performance, delinquency, and more r...

Though the literature is making advances in the study of fear for the general population, we still know very little about adolescent's perceptions of fear in the school setting. Moreover, the existing literature has primarily examined fear among older adolescents, and has not provided gender-sensitive analyses when exploring the factors related to...

In recent years, public schools have moved away from traditional grade configurations with junior high schools and have shifted toward integrating sixth-grade students into middle schools. It has been argued that the effect this will have on students is to allow for additional freedom and earlier social growth. However, the counterargument to this...

To date, most criminological research on digital piracy has focused exclusively on college student samples. This focus has left a vacuum in researching other populations potentially involved in such piracy. Specifically, adolescents are often associated with other crimes, yet have been severely understudied in relation to digital piracy. The presen...

Internet-based digital piracy has recently become a widespread occurrence. Despite this growth, few studies have attempted to apply criminological theory to the crime. This study tests the explanatory power of two criminological theories, general deterrence and differential association, on Internet piracy of music, software and movies. Data used in...

This study assesses factors that affect Internet piracy among college students. Specifically, the study asks the question: Are social learning theories predictive of piracy behaviors? Data used in this study were collected from 587 undergraduate college students enrolled in two higher education institutions. Path analysis as part of structural equa...