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Sociology

University of South Carolina

Theses and Dissertations

Social and Behavioral Sciences, Sociology

Publication Year

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Reevaluating The Parenting Wellbeing Gap: Evidence From The Wellbeing Module Of The American Time Use Survey, Daniela Veronica Negraia Jan 2018

Reevaluating The Parenting Wellbeing Gap: Evidence From The Wellbeing Module Of The American Time Use Survey, Daniela Veronica Negraia

Theses and Dissertations

Both scholars and the public have been intrigued by the question of whether parents experience higher levels of emotional wellbeing than adults who are not raising children. Yet despite decades of research on the topic, the answer to this question remains unclear. Using a novel source of nationally representative data, the Wellbeing Module of the American Time Use Survey (2010, 2012, 2013), this dissertation aims to unpack and extend prior understanding of the parenting wellbeing gap by pursing two studies. The first investigates whether parenthood may have both positive and negative links to adults’ emotional wellbeing; whether the gap varies …


Context Matters: Evaluating Social Judgments Of Acquaintance Rape Myths, Michelle E. Deming May 2017

Context Matters: Evaluating Social Judgments Of Acquaintance Rape Myths, Michelle E. Deming

Theses and Dissertations

The objectives of my dissertation are to: 1) determine the social psychological factors affecting rape myth judgments and, 2) develop an instrument that utilizes realistic social contexts to measure acquaintance rape myth adherence among undergraduate students. The Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (IRMA; McMahon and Farmer 2011; Payne et al. 1999) was used to create acquaintance rape vignettes using factorial surveys (Rossi and Anderson 1982). I manipulated factors known to be associated with victim-blame such as alcohol, a previous sexual relationship, if the woman is dressed provocatively, the type of relationship (e.g., acquaintance versus friend), if the woman verbally protested, …


Early Economic Hardship, Maternal Support, And Depressive Symptoms Among Black Young Adults, Mia Brantley Jan 2017

Early Economic Hardship, Maternal Support, And Depressive Symptoms Among Black Young Adults, Mia Brantley

Theses and Dissertations

Substantial associations between childhood economic hardship and adult mental health have been acknowledged within social science research. However, there is a scarcity of research examining this relationship among Black Americans, as well as the sociocultural factors that may assist Black Americans in dealing with the effects of childhood economic hardship. This study suggests that family structure, specifically maternal support, may be a significant resource for Black Americans in the face of early economic adversity and mental health outcomes. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, a nationally representative sample of Black Americans, this study outlines …


Framing Perceptions Of Justice In A Public Goods Dilemma, Hatice Atilgan Jan 2017

Framing Perceptions Of Justice In A Public Goods Dilemma, Hatice Atilgan

Theses and Dissertations

Provision of public goods often requires sufficient contributions from group members, and improper contributions are likely to produce feelings of injustice. Building on previous research, I develop a justice theory that explains how framing social comparisons in particular ways will make actors more or less sensitive and reactive to departures from fair contributions. In turn, this is predicted to impact justice-restoring behaviors such as reducing subsequent contributions to a public good, punishing group members, or exiting the group. This integrated theory shows how varying the way key pieces of information are framed affects fairness perceptions and subsequent behaviors in social …


What We See Depends On Where We Stand: Distorted Perception Of Social Income Inequality, Jingwen Zhong Jan 2017

What We See Depends On Where We Stand: Distorted Perception Of Social Income Inequality, Jingwen Zhong

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates how individuals’ structural positions affect their justice perceptions of income distribution. Several previous studies have found the effect of socio-economic status along with other factors on people’s preference for how much more high-prestige occupations should be paid than low-prestige occupations. However, there is not much effort on exploring theoretical explanations for those empirical findings. To provide explanations for the effect of structural position on perceptions of income inequality, two potential theoretical perspectives are examined: self-interest theory and Wegener’s illusory perception theory. The study uses Chinese General Social Survey data to investigate the impact of individuals’ income on …


The Effect Of Economic Inequality On Perceptions Of Merit, Nicholas Heiserman Jan 2016

The Effect Of Economic Inequality On Perceptions Of Merit, Nicholas Heiserman

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has shown that the rewards people receive are often taken as indirect evidence of their competence. Meanwhile, economic inequality has increased in the US over the past several generations. I propose that variation in economic inequality – the distribution of rewards in society – alters perceptions of the merits of people at different strata in society according to an assumption of equity. I use Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (mTurk) to experimentally manipulate the level of inequality (high vs low) participants perceive in an anonymized country, and I measure participants’ perceptions of merit for people in that country’s 90th and …


Linking Discrimination To Health: Does Coping Matter For The Mental Health Of Black Men And Women?, Calley Fisk Jan 2016

Linking Discrimination To Health: Does Coping Matter For The Mental Health Of Black Men And Women?, Calley Fisk

Theses and Dissertations

Efforts to explain the negative association between discrimination and mental health have examined psychosocial responses to discrimination, such as coping responses or resources. However, there is limited research on how these coping strategies affect the discrimination-health relationship among Black Americans. Using data from the National Survey of American Life (NSAL), the present study examines the effect of perceived discrimination on depressive symptoms separately for men and women and tests the mediating and moderating influences of five coping strategies on this relationship. Results suggest that social support partially mediates the negative association between discrimination and mental health for men and women. …