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Mixed Messages: The Effect Of Social Location, Parental Communication About Sex, And Formal Sexual Education On Protective Sexual Behaviors, Eryn G. Viscarra

Sociology Dissertations

This dissertation tests if a young adult’s social location determines what type of information he or she will receive about sexual health from parents and formal sexual education programs. I also test whether sexual education mediates direct associations between social location and 4 protective sexual health behaviors: condom communication, consistent condom use, delaying sexual debut, and reducing the number of lifetime sexual partners. Using the 2011-2013 wave of the National Survey of Family Growth, I look for differences in sexual education and engaging in protective sexual health behaviors among white, Hispanic, and African American men and women ages 15-24. I …

Attitudes Toward Interracial Marriage In The United States Military: Black-White Contrasts, Leanna R. Greenwood

Sociology Theses

In the midst of increasing multiracial identification and diversity in the United States, I examine whether White and Black military veterans hold different attitudes toward interracial marriage than those held by their coethnics in the general population. Using the General Social Survey, I examine the likelihood of military members opposing marriage between a close relative and a partner of a race different from the respondent’s own, and whether their views are significantly different from their non-military coethnic counterparts. I use binary logistic regressions to assess whether opposition toward interracial marriage varies by military status and race. Results indicate that Whites …

Embodying Cosplay: Fandom Communities In The Usa, Natasha L. Hill

Anthropology Theses

Cosplay is a portmanteau of costume and play, referring specifically to role-play. Cosplay consists of various costumed role-playing, such as anime, manga, video games, science-fiction, fantasy, horror, mythology, etc. In the 1990s, cosplay emerged as a popular street fashion subculture in Japan that has become a worldwide phenomenon. Cosplay was already present in North American popular culture in association with comic and science-fiction conventions. These events at the time were considered masquerades, not cosplay. Cosplay communities rely primarily on maintaining social relationships via internet communication and word of mouth. The standards for what constitutes cosplay are upheld by individuals, the …

Understanding Youth Perceptions Of Police Legitimacy, Sara Hockin

Criminal Justice and Criminology Theses

Police-community interactions became a highly publicized topic in the United States following several recent police-involved shootings. Previous research shows several factors predict attitudes and behaviors toward police, including neighborhood context, race, offender status, and experiencing procedural justice. Contact with actors in the criminal justice system can begin at a young age. Based on these issues, the current study focused on two primary research questions: What are youth’s perceptions of police legitimacy? What experiences have shaped those understandings? Using semi-structured interviews with a sample of 28 youth ages 13-17 from diverse backgrounds and neighborhoods, the current study sought to identify the …

Notorious But Invisible: How Romani Media Portrayals Invalidate Romani Identity And Existence In Mainstream Society, Melanie Covert

Sociology Dissertations

The Romani are a group of individuals that have been acknowledged in newspapers, television, movies and other forms of media but remain invisible as a people world-wide. Through the use of qualitative interviews, content analysis and qualitative synthesis, this study investigates why this phenomenon occurs in the United States as well as Europe. Overall, it was found that media portrayals negatively impact the Romani’s ability to successfully acculturate, increases their experiences of prejudice and discrimination and negatively impacts their social, physical and mental health. Romani media portrayals also appropriate the Romani’s ability to define themselves to mainstream society and impacts …

Race, Online Health Resources And Their Contribution To Health Disparities, Elizabeth Keck

Sociology Theses

With increasing usage of the Internet for a variety of activities, including health information seeking, there is opportunity for the technology to have a pivotal impact on reducing health disparities. Using a Fundamental Causes framework (Link and Phelan 1997), this thesis explores whether or not Internet usage for health information seeking reduces racial health disparities. Using data from the Pew Research Center this study examined active and passive health information seeking and the impact they have on health outcomes among blacks, whites, and Hispanics. The health conditions included self-rated health, high blood pressure, diabetes, lung disease, and heart disease. The …

He's Dark, Dark; Colorism Among African American Men, Edlin Veras

Africana Studies Theses

This study expands literature on colorism and the monolithic emphasis on the experiences of women by investigating black men’s experience with skin tone discrimination. The investigator seeks to interrogate how black males experience colorism by exploring how familial, peer associations, and media shape black males’ understanding of their skin-tone; by asking; what messages, if any, enforcing colorism ideals they receive; as well as the frequency of and adherence to such messages. The investigator utilized focus groups to gather data. Sample was limited to 10 self-identifying African-American black men age 18 and older. Focus group data is analyzed through an intersectional …

The Role Of Education In The Assimilation Of Romani Women In The United States, Melanie Covert

Sociology Theses

The Romani are a largely unknown people group in the United States though their plight world-wide is highly visible. The story of Romani in the United States remains largely untold. This study explored the daily lives of 15 Romani women within the United States. The study investigated questions of historical prejudice, gender roles, educational achievement and barriers to assimilation with in the Romani community. Results of the study highlighted that many Romani women encounter significant barriers inside and outside of their communities that impact their ability to pursue higher education and to fully assimilate into mainstream society due to current …

The Paradox Of Theodore Parker: Transcendentalist, Abolitionist, And White Supremacist, Jim Kelley

History Theses

Theodore Parker was one of the leading intellectuals and militant abolitionists of the antebellum era who has been largely overlooked by modern scholars. He was a leading Transcendentalist intellectual and was also one of the most militant leaders of the abolitionist movement. Despite his fervent abolitionism, his writings reveal an attitude that today we would call racist or white supremacist. Some scholars have argued that Parker's motivation for abolishing slavery was to redeem the Anglo-Saxon race from the sin of slavery. I will dispute this claim and explore Parker's true understanding of race. How he could both believe in the …

The Effect Of Stereotype Confirmation Concerns On Fear Of Negative Evaluation And Avoidance For Those With Social Anxiety Disorder, Suzanne Johnson

Psychology Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between stereotype confirmation concerns (SCC) and fear of negative evaluation (FNE). It is hypothesized that SCC will predict FNE, and that this effect will be moderated by race, such that SCC and FNE will be stronger among African Americans than among European Americans. A sample of 53 Caucasians and 41 African Americans were diagnosed with social anxiety. A hierarchical multiple regression was run to predict FNE with SCC, race, and the product of the two. The final model explained 27.9% of the variance in participants’ FNE. Race significantly moderated the …

The Effects Of School And Neighborhood Characteristics On Delinquency, Drug And Alcohol Issues, Early Childbearing, And Welfare Receipt, Bobette Otto

Sociology Dissertations

Little research has examined the impact of school and neighborhood racial composition on delinquency, arrest, incarceration, drug issues, early childbearing, and welfare collection. The purpose of this study is to explore these particular relationships. For this project, I use Add Health data. Based on past literature and theories concerning the consequences of racially segregated schools and neighborhoods, I hypothesized that students who attended/lived in schools/neighborhoods with a higher concentration of racial minorities would be more likely to participate in delinquent acts, get arrested, be incarcerated, have issues with drugs and alcohol, have a teenage pregnancy (or their partner did), and …

Resisting Tropes, Inserting Selves: An Interpretative Biographical Analysis Of The Life Writings Of Mixed Race Women Writers, Erin M. George

Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Theses

This thesis focuses on the patterns of racial formation, and epistemological points of entry that are salient to the mulatta experience in the United States, through the use of life writings. The results gleaned from this research are utilized to problematize revived political and social assertions of a post-feminist, post-racist United States.

Health Safety-Net Crisis: A Case Study Of News Discourse, Cecilia F. Mitchell

Communication Theses

This study is the first to analyze news coverage of a hegemonic struggle over a crisis that threatened to close a Southern safety net hospital. Such closure could have left indigent, African American men and women without health care access. The study utilizes critical discourse analysis to focus on news portrayals of patients and the struggle over whether the hospital would continue to be governed by a majority-Black, public board of directors or a nonprofit, private board recommended by a majority-White civic group. Results indicate that newspaper coverage privileged the elite, White view, while stereotypically representing indigent, Black patients as …

Aiding Africans: West German Perceptions Of Race And Modernity In The 1960s, Lauren W. Nass

History Theses

During the 1960s, decolonization and the Cold War pushed many West Germans to concern themselves with aiding Africans. This aid came in the form of federally funded development aid or Entwicklungshilfe, student activism, and the continuation of missionary work. Utilizing print media, scholarly sources, as well as reports from missionaries and other aid workers, my thesis explores the discourses that surrounded aid work. These discourses reveal a number of ways West Germans conceived of race, modernity, and their role in the world. While acknowledging the multiplicity of views and contest over attitudes, I argue that in general aid to Africa …

A High School Mathematics Teacher Tacking Through The Middle Way: Toward A Critical Postmodern Autoethnography In Mathematics Education, John O. Wamsted

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Dissertations

The “urban” mathematics classroom has become an increasingly polarized site, one where many middle-class White teachers attempt to bridge the divide between themselves and their relatively economically disadvantaged, non-White students. With its mania for high-stakes testing, current education policy has intensified the importance of mathematics in the school curriculum—both drawing attention to and reifying an “achievement gap” between White (and Asian) and non-White students (Martin, 2009c, 2010). Keeping in mind the Mathematics for all rhetoric as it affects the academic and life success of students (Martin, 2003), this cultural polarization in the mathematics classroom provides a rich site for exploring …

Association Between Food Deserts And Diabetes Related Morbidity And Mortality Among Residents Of Fulton County, Georgia, Madhubanti Chatterji

Public Health Theses

Background: Diabetes is one of the leading causes of death and disability among chronic diseases in the United States. Type 2 diabetes, which accounts for 90-95% of all diabetes cases, is a preventable form of disease which can be controlled through diet and physical activity. But residents of places such as ‘food deserts’, with no access to fresh food, often bear the burden of chronic diseases such as diabetes. There have been very few studies which have particularly looked at the association between food environment and diabetes prevalence in such deprived areas.

Objective: The study investigated the association …

Associations Of Vigorous Physical Activity With Depression: An Examination Of Nhanes Data 2007-2008, Ugonma U. Emeruem

Public Health Theses

ABSTRACT

Background: Major depressive disorder or depression is a mental illness which affects people of a range of different ages. In terms of years lost due to disability, it is a leader. Physical activity is currently being used as a therapeutic treatment of depression that decreases levels of depression in individuals suffering from it. Physical activity can also be used as a form of prevention against depression. This study examines the association between vigorous physical activity and depression.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that utilized the secondary data from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007-2008. Statistical …

"Who Says Storm Is The Only Black Superheroine?": An Interpretative Textual Analysis Of The Black Superheroine, Grace D. Gipson

Africana Studies Theses

The study examines how race and gender stereotypes in popular culture shape the perception of the Black superheroine. This study also explores stereotypes and gender roles and how they impact Black female and male college students’ ages 18-38 and their imagination of the Black superheroine. As the status of popular culture grows, the generation of today’s college student still remains regular consumers. Thus it was necessary to use a convenience sample of thirty-two African American male and female college-age students from four African American Studies undergraduate courses at Georgia State University that took part in a Superheroine questionnaire, in which …

Place, Race, And Modernism In The Works Of E.M. Forster And Eudora Welty, Marny H. Borchardt

English Dissertations

This dissertation examines similarities between the works of E. M. Forster (A Room with a View, A Passage to India) and Eudora Welty (“Powerhouse,” Delta Wedding). This study focuses on three areas: the importance of a sense of place for both writers, their nuanced critiques of racism and other intolerances, and their subtle, yet inherently modernist philosophies and methodologies. This dissertation also argues that both writers deserve a prominent place in the modernist literary canon.

Deadly Viper Character Assassins: Cyber Discourse On Asian American Marginalization And Identity, Eileen Wang

Communication Theses

This study examines how Asian Americans articulate their marginalization and identity, as well as other issues related to race, through the use of blogs. Specifically, I look at discourse surrounding the Deadly Viper Character Assassins publication controversy on three different blogs. I draw upon critical discourse analysis (CDA) to compile patterns, themes, and anomalies from the online discussions. This paper highlights key findings, given the scarceness of Asian American voices in public culture, that prompt ongoing discussions about identity and the use of blogs as a platform to speak and conceptualize Asian American identity.

Race And Health Online: A Public Health Exploration Of The Digital Landscape, Tanisha Kelley

Public Health Theses

The Internet has continued to reach new audience members and is an integral part of United States society. Social Cognitive Theory addresses the impact of the environment on health behavior, providing justification for surveillance of the digital environment in health behavior research. Health information headlines from two highly trafficked news sites were analyzed using content analysis. Search terms used were health, Blacks, African American, ethnicity and 2011. The headlines were coded by independent graduate level individuals and assessed for nine indices of interest.

There were 209 headlines analyzed for the study. Headlines contained health information that …

(Unrelated), Bethany Collins

Art and Design Theses

(Unrelated), a series of language-based works made up of chalkboard drawings, dictionary erasures and accumulations of text, highlights the inability of language to fully capture notions of modern racial identity. Rather, in (Unrelated), definitions are hidden, revealed, allowed and humored, but rarely settled. It is natural to seek delineation between oneself and all else, but it is a particularly persistent urge for those who engage in the pursuit of racial clarity. In To Be Real, an essay which heavily influenced this body of work, Danzy Senna writes: “Growing up mixed in the racial battlefield of Boston, I yearned for …

Comparison Of Screening Methods For Pre-Diabetes And Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus By Race/Ethnicity And Gender, Ashleigh E. Heath

Public Health Theses

INTRODUCTION/OBJECTIVES: Current screening guidelines for pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes mellitus note that there are discrepancies in diagnosing the disease using the fasting plasma glucose test, oral glucose tolerance test, and HbA1_c in high-risk populations. The objective of this study is to compare the effectiveness of screening methods for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and pre-diabetes by race/ethnicity and gender.

METHODS: Secondary analyses of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES, 2005-2008) were performed using SPSS 19.0. Screening outcomes were assessed and compared for a sample of n=10,566, NHW, NHB, MA, and Multiracial/other men and women. Analyses included …

Disney's Portrayal Of Nonhuman Animals In Animated Films Between 2000 And 2010, Oana Leventi-Perez

Communication Theses

This paper used the constant comparative method to examine the 12 animated features released by Disney between 2000 and 2010 for: (1) their representation of nonhuman animals (NHAs) and the portrayal of race, class, gender, and speciesism within this representation, (2) the ways they describe the relationship between humans and NHAs, and (3) whether they promote an animal rights perspective. Three major themes were identified: NHAs as stereotypes, family, and human/NHA dichotomy. Analysis of these themes revealed that Disney’s animated features promote speciesism and celebrate humanity’s superiority by justifying the subordination of NHAs to human agency. Furthermore, while Disney’s representation …

Validity Of Waist-To-Height Ratio As A Screening Tool For Type 2 Diabetes Risk In Non-Hispanic Whites, Non-Hispanic Blacks, And Mexican American Adult Women, Lindsey Cochran Ms.

Public Health Theses

Abstract

Validity of waist-to-height ratio as a screening tool for type 2 diabetes risk in non-Hispanic Whites, non-Hispanic Blacks, and Mexican American Adult Women, from the ages 20-65 years of age.

Background:

A prominent screening measure for type 2 diabetes is a simple measure of waist circumference. Waist circumference is an aggregate measurement of the actual amount of total and abdominal fat accumulation and is a crucial correlate of the complexities found among obese and overweight patients. However, waist circumference does not take into consideration the frame of an individual. Hence, recent epidemiologic data have suggested the use of height …

Neural Correlates Of Attention Bias In Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Fmri Study, Negar Fani

Psychology Dissertations

Attention biases to trauma-related information contribute to symptom maintenance in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); this phenomenon has been observed through various behavioral studies, although findings from studies using a precise, direct bias task, the dot probe, have been mixed. PTSD neuroimaging studies have indicated atypical function in specific brain regions involved with attention bias; when viewing emotionally-salient cues or engaging in tasks that require attention, individuals with PTSD have demonstrated altered activity in brain regions implicated in cognitive control and attention allocation, including the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and amygdala. However, remarkably few PTSD neuroimaging studies …

A Critical Study Of Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life Of Bees, Joy A. Hebert Ms.

English Theses

Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees (2002) tells the story of a motherless fourteen-year-old Lily Owens, raised by a cruel father, who desperately searches for clues to unlock her mother’s past. Kidd’s bildungsroman reveals the incredible power of black women, particularly a group of beekeeping sisters and a black Mary, to create a safe haven where Lily can examine her fragmented life and develop psychologically, finally becoming a self-actualized young lady. Lily’s matriarchal world of influence both compares and contrasts with the patriarchal world represented in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, exposing the matriarchy’s aptly structured ways …

Imagining Haiti: Representations Of Haiti In The American Press During The U.S. Occupation, 1915-1934, Molly M. Baroco

History Theses

Throughout the United States occupation of Haiti from 1915 to 1934, the U.S. government and its supporters were forced to defend the legitimacy of American action. In order to justify it to the American public, officials and journalists created a dichotomy of capacity between an inferior Haiti and a superior U.S., and they presented the occupation as a charitable civilizing mission. This vision of Haiti and Haitians was elaborated in a racialized discourse wherein Haitians were assigned various negative traits that rendered them incapable of self-government. In examining how the New York Times, the National Geographic Magazine, and the Crisis …

Sensory Coding In William Faulkner's Novels: Investigating Class, Gender, Queerness, And Race Through A Non-Visual Paradigm, Laura R. Davis

English Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Although the title of William Faulkner’s famous novel The Sound and the Fury overtly references the senses, most critics have focused on the fury rather than on the sound. However, Faulkner’s stories, vividly and descriptively set in the U.S. South, contain not only characters and plot, but also depict a rich sensory world. To neglect the way Faulkner’s characters employ their senses is to miss subtle but important clues regarding societal codes that structure hierarchies of class, gender, queerness, and race in his novels. Thus, a more complete examination of the sensory world in Faulkner’s fiction across multiple texts …

You're Wearing The Orange Shorts? African American Hooters Girls And The All American Girl Next Door, Rachel E. Cook

Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Theses

Hooters restaurants are typically staffed by Caucasian women that resemble the company’s idea of an “All American Girl, Surfer Girl, Girl Next Door” image, promoted in employee training materials. However, my experience working for this company has been in a predominantly African American-staffed Hooters, atypical for the corporation. Through a mixed methods approach encompassing content analysis, participant observation, autoethnography, and interviews, this research seeks to understand the ideal Hooters Girl image promoted by the corporation, and the performance of that ideal in an atypical Hooters location.