William & Mary ScholarWorks

Welcome! William & Mary ScholarWorks preserves and provides access to the research and creative output of William & Mary's faculty, staff, and students.

UPDATE 18th JUNE 2025: Our repository has migrated from Digital Commons to Open Repository DSpace as of this summer. Additional updates and improvements will continue through the Fall semester. Thank you for your patience during this transition.

Recent Submissions

Open Access
When is international trade a security threat?
(Sage, 2026-02-05) Park, RyuGyung; Kinne, Brandon; Arts & Sciences
Discussion of trade is increasingly dominated by security-oriented terms and concepts. We examine the tendency of individuals to perceive trade not merely as an economic issue but as a threat to national security, which we term “trade–security equivalence.” While many scholars have studied individual-level support for trade, we show that trade–security equivalence is distinct from trade preferences. We use a survey experiment of US respondents to isolate conditions that lead individuals to perceive trade as a security threat. Treatments vary aspects of hypothetical US trade relationships: military and economic gaps, partner alignment with US foreign policy, and potential macro- and micro-level economic impacts. Our analysis reveals multiple paths to trade–security equivalence, involving both economic and security influences, with the strongest effect from macro-level economic influences. When subjects are told that trade negatively affects the overall US economy, they are especially likely to view trade as a national security threat.
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The Role of an Educational Intervention in Modifying Attitudes TowardAutistic Relationships
(2025-12-10) Griffiths, Emma; Dickter, Cheryl; Burk, Joshua; Porter, Christy; Raddatz, Megan; Arts & Sciences
Despite growing acceptance of autism, autistic adults often face stereotypes framing them aschild-like, unemotional, or incapable of participating in romantic and sexual relationships. Whilethese attitudes contribute to stigma, social exclusion, and the denial of autistic adults’ intimateneeds and well-being, little research has specifically addressed attitudes toward autisticrelationships involving romance and sexuality. The present study examined whether a brief,virtual educational intervention could improve general and intimacy-specific attitudes towardautistic adults. Young adult participants (n = 192) completed measures of social distance, generalattitudes, endorsements of intimacy-related stereotypes, feelings of warmth toward autisticpeers, and feelings of warmth toward non-autistic peers before and after experiencing a text-based intervention combatting stereotypes related to autistic relationships. Results indicatedsignificant improvements across all measures except warmth toward non-autistic individuals,suggesting that the intervention specifically improved attitudes toward autistic individuals. Inparticular, endorsements of intimacy-related stereotypes showed the greatest improvements,suggesting that a targeted educational intervention can meaningfully address attitudes towardthe capacity of autistic adults to engage in romance, sexuality, and intimacy. Moderation analysesfurther revealed that baseline autism knowledge and gender moderated the magnitude ofimprovement between pre-test and post-test scores. These findings highlight the efficacy of abrief educational intervention in improving both general and intimacy-related attitudes towardautistic individuals. Integrating similar interventions into educational settings, sex educationcurricula, and community programs may help counteract stigma and support autistic adults’autonomy and rights to healthy intimate relationships.
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Sexual Orientation Identity: Examination of Mental HealthFactors
(2025-11-17) Engelen, Elise; Bisconer, Sarah W.; Labella, Madelyn; Xu, Xiaowen; Webster, Erin; Arts & Sciences
This study examined differences in mental health between heterosexual and lesbian, gay, andbisexual (LGB) students, and explored whether internalized homophobia predicted greaterpsychological distress among LGB participants. A self-selected sample of 373 psychologystudents from a mid-sized public university in the mid-Atlantic region of the United Statescompleted an online survey measuring depression (Beck Depression Inventory-II), anxiety (BeckAnxiety Inventory), eating disorder symptoms (Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire), self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale), and internalized homophobia (Internalized HomophobiaScale). Participants received course credit for their participation. Results of independent samplest-tests indicated that LGB participants reported significantly higher levels of depression, anxiety,and eating disorder symptoms, as well as lower self-esteem compared to heterosexual peers,with moderate effect sizes (d = 0.34-0.54). Within the LGB subsample, internalized homophobiawas not significantly correlated with any mental health variable. However, self-esteem wasstrongly negatively related to depression, anxiety, and eating disorder symptoms (all p < .001).These findings highlight continued mental health disparities among LGB college students andemphasize self-esteem as a potential protective factor. Implications for clinicians andadministrators include the importance of fostering affirming campus environments and focusingon interventions that enhance self-worth to promote the psychological well-being of LGBstudents.
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Fiddling Around: Exploring the Effects of Invasive Phragmites australisRoot Mass on Burrowing Activity of Leptuca pugilator
(2025-11-19) Babcock, Madeleine; Leu, Matthais; Chambers, Randolph; Shields, Jeffrey; Arts & Sciences
Environmental factors affecting burrowing behavior and distribution can influence the fitness ofLeptuca pugilator, the sand fiddler crab native to Virginia’s salt marshes, which are currentlychanging in composition and configuration due to environmental and anthropogenic changes.This study examined the effect of Phragmites australis, an invasive alien grass species, onburrowing behavior when compared to burrowing activity in native Spartina alterniflora. Burrowdistribution in the field was affected by both vegetation type and soil water content. Mostburrow morphological traits were unaffected by vegetation type, except for burrow length, whichwas greater in P. australis. Further data analysis and in-lab experiments suggested that sedimentmoisture content and root mat density, regardless of vegetation type, are potential drivers forburrow distributions of L. pugilator. As P. australis changes its environment to drier conditions,the distribution and population dynamics of L. pugilator could be altered.
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Uncovering a Molecular Analog for Chiral Induced Spin Selectivity inthe Dynamics of Nitric Oxide and 2-Butanol Collision Complexes
(2025-12-10) Kerrigan, Joshua T.; Kidwell, Nathan; Poutsma, John; Harbron, Elizabeth; Iaci, Ross; Arts & Sciences
Chiral molecules, those that possess the same chemical formula and connectivity yet differ instructure, play a key role in many biological and chemical systems. These chiral molecules, suchas 2-butanol, exist as S- and R-enantiomers which can exhibit unique behavior from each other.For example, Chiral Induced Spin Selectivity (CISS) is a phenomenon where the chirality of amolecule can influence the spin of an electron. Nitric oxide (NO) is a free radical, meaning that itpossesses an unpaired electron, which when interacting with a chiral species such as 2-butanolmay experience a CISS-like effect. The collision complexes between NO and 2-butanol wereinvestigated to determine whether 2-butanol’s chirality would influence the NO productoutcomes post dissociation. To do this, we made use of IR action spectroscopy combined withresonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) and velocity map imaging to probe thedissociation dynamics of the NO:2-butanol collision complex. The product state distributions forNO products from NO:2-butanol infrared activation were also recorded. When comparing theresults of the racemic, S-enantiopure, and R-enantiopure complexes, a preferential angularmomentum selectivity for the NO product was found. These experimental results can provide aframework for better understanding the influence that chirality has on radical-chiral molecularcollisions.