Digital Commons Network^™

Mental Health And Substance Abuse Services Preferences Among American Indian People Of The Northern Midwest, Melissa Lynn Walls, Kurt D. Johnson, Les B. Whitbeck, Dan R. Hoyt

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This study examines factors that influence preferences between traditional cultural and western mental health and substance use associated care among American Indians from the northern Midwest. Personal interviews were conducted with 865 parents/caretakers of tribally enrolled youth concerning their preferences for traditional/cultural and formal healthcare for mental health or substance abuse problems. Adults strongly preferred traditional informal services to formal medical services. In addition, formal services on reservation were preferred to off reservation services. To better serve the mental health and substance abuse treatment needs of American Indians, traditional informal services should be incorporated into the current medical model.

Impact Of Family Abuse On Running Away, Deviance, And Street Victimization Among Homeless Rural And Urban Youth, Lisa E. Thrane, Dan R. Hoyt, Les B. Whitbeck, Kevin A. Yoder

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Problem — Various demographic and familial risk factors have been linked to runaway behavior. To date, there has not been a systematic investigation of the impact of size of community on runaway behavior. This study will compare runaways from smaller cities and rural areas to their urban counterparts.

Methods — A convenience sample of 602 adolescents was interviewed between 1995 and August of 1996 in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas, USA. Multiple regression was used to examine the association between gender, neglect, sexual abuse, physical abuse, geographic and family structure change, and community size of first runaway to predict age …

A Qualitative Study Of Early Family Histories And Transitions Of Homeless Youth, Kimberly A. Tyler

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Using intensive qualitative interviews with 40 homeless youth, this study examined their early family histories for abuse, neglect, and other family problems and the number and types of transitions that youth experienced. Multiple forms of child maltreatment, family alcoholism, drug use, and criminal activity characterized early family histories of many youth. Leaving home because of either running away or being removed by child protective services often resulted in multiple transitions, which regularly included moving from foster care homes to a group home, back to their parents, and then again returning to the streets. Although having experienced family disorganization set youth …

Prevalence And Comorbidity Of Mental Disorders Among American Indian Children In The Northern Midwest, Les B. Whitbeck, Kurt D. Johnson, Dan R. Hoyt, Melissa L. Walls

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Purpose — To investigate the prevalence of mental disorder and comorbidity among American Indian children aged 10–12 years from four U.S. reservations and five Canadian reserves in the Northern Midwest.

Method — Specially trained Native interviewers administered the Diagnostic Interview for Children-Revised for 11 diagnostic categories to 736 tribally enrolled children (mean age 11 years) and their female caretakers.

Results — Prevalence rates are reported by child self-report, female caretaker reports, and combined caretakerchild reports. Twenty-three percent (combined caretaker-child reports) of the children met criteria for one of the 11 disorders and 9% met criteria for two or more of …

Trading Sex: Voluntary Or Coerced? The Experiences Of Homeless Youth, Kimberly A. Tyler, Katherine Johnson

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This study examined the circumstances surrounding a homeless youth’s “decision” to trade sex for food, money, shelter, or drugs. Forty homeless youth in 4 Midwestern states participated in individual, in-depth qualitative interviews. Interviewers recruited youth through both service agencies and street outreach. The findings revealed that approximately one third of the sample had some experience with trading sex, whether it was in the form of having traded sex, having been propositioned to trade sex but having refused, or having friends or acquaintances that had traded sex. Young people ‘s reports indicated that they had traded sex for things they deemed …

Examination Of The Relationship Between Nonresponse And Measurement Error In A Validation Study Of Alumni, Kristen Olson, Courtney Kennedy

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

While the individual components of total survey error have been well documented in the literature, relatively little is known about the intersection of these error sources. In particular, there is scant empirical work on the interplay between nonresponse error and measurement error – despite the potentially significant implications for data quality as well as techniques used to recruit respondents. In this paper we investigate the connection between these two error sources using data from a survey of University of Maryland alumni. The availability of administrative records for seven items on the survey instrument (donations, membership in the alumni association, and …

Comparing Check-All And Forced-Choice Question Formats In Web Surveys, Jolene D. Smyth, Don A. Dillman, Leah Melani Christian, Michael J. Stern

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

For survey researchers, it is common practice to use the check-all question format in Web and mail surveys but to convert to the forced-choice question format in telephone surveys. The assumption underlying this practice is that respondents will answer the two formats similarly. In this research note we report results from 16 experimental comparisons in two Web surveys and a paper survey conducted in 2002 and 2003 that test whether the check-all and forced-choice formats produce similar results. In all 16 comparisons, we find that the two question formats do not perform similarly; respondents endorse more options and take longer …

Explaining Disparities In Treatment Seeking: The Case Of Infertility, Lynn K. White, Julia Mcquillan, Arthur L. Greil

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Objective: To present an integrated model of help-seeking, review empirical work in its support, and show its application to the explanation of racial and ethnic disparities in infertility help-seeking.
Conclusions: A help-seeking model provides a plausible explanation of observed disparities in infertility help-seeking. In addition to being related to income, race and ethnicity is related to prior experience with doctors, marital status, parity, knowledge and attitudes toward reproductive technology, and attitudes supporting spiritual rather than technological solutions to health problems.

Some Guiding Assumptions And A Theoretical Model For Developing Culturally Specific Preventions With Native American People, Les B. Whitbeck

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This essay proposes six basic assumptions to guide the development of prevention research partnerships between Native American communities and non-Native American prevention researchers. It also presents a five-stage theoretical model for the development of culturally specific prevention research. The theoretical model addresses the need for: (a) the cultural translation of key prevention constructs pertaining to risk and protective factors and (b) the development of measures of culturally specific risk and protective factors that will contribute to explained variance over and above that explained by traditional European models. “Cultural translation” refers to the process of adapting key variables to reflect their …

Pathways In And Out Of Substance Use Among Homeless-Emerging Adults, Kimberly A. Tyler, Katherine Johnson

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Although high rates of alcohol and drug use have been found among homeless young people, less is known about who is responsible for their initiation, the reasons for their continued use, and why some individuals eventually transition out of using whereas others do not. Based on qualitative interviews with 40 homeless individuals 19 to 21 years of age in the Midwest, results revealed that the majority of respondents were initiated into substance use by friends and acquaintances, although family also played a significant role. Almost one half of respondents reported using substances to cope with early family abuse, stress, and …

Family, Community, And School Influences On Resilience Among American Indian Adolescents In The Upper Midwest, Teresa D. Lafromboise, Dan R. Hoyt, Lisa Oliver, Les B. Whitbeck

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This study examines resilience among a sample of American Indian adolescents living on or near reservations in the upper Midwest. Data are from a baseline survey of 212 youth (115 boys and 97 girls) who were enrolled in the fifth through eighth grades. Based upon the definition of resilience, latent class analyses were conducted to identify youth who displayed prosocial outcomes (60.5%) as opposed to problem behavior outcomes. A measure of family adversity was also developed that indicated only 38.4% of the youth lived in low-adversity households. Defining resilience in the context of positive outcomes in the face of adversity, …

Survey Participation, Nonresponse Bias, Measurement Error Bias, And Total Bias, Kristen M. Olson

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

A common hypothesis about practices to reduce survey nonresponse is that those persons brought into the respondent pool through persuasive efforts may provide data filled with measurement error. Two questions flow from this hypothesis. First, does the mean square error of a statistic increase when sample persons who are less likely to be contacted or cooperate are incorporated into the respondent pool? Second, do nonresponse bias estimates made on the respondents, using survey reports instead of records, provide accurate information about nonresponse bias? Using a unique data set, the Wisconsin Divorce Study, with divorce records as the frame and questions …

Family Structure, Closeness To Residential And Nonresidential Parents, And Psychological Distress In Early And Middle Adolescence, Christina D. Falci

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

American adolescents currently live in a variety of different family structures, with the vast majority of adolescents living in intact, blended, divorced, and never-married families. Previous research shows that family structure correlates both with the quality of parent–adolescent relationships and adolescent psychological distress. The quality of parent–adolescent relationships also correlates with adolescent distress. This research hypothesizes that the observed differences in adolescent distress across family structure might result from differences in the quality of parent–adolescent relationships across family structure. Analyses, using data on 1,443 youth in early and middle adolescence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), indicate that …

Models Of American Indian Education: Cultural Inclusion And The Family/Community/School Linkage, Adrienne Freng, Scott Freng, Helen A. Moore

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Educational research has explored the impact of culture and the linkage of families and communities to schools on student achievement among minority students. Little focus, however, has been placed on the family/community interactions with schools among culturally distinctive populations such as American Indians and students' perceptions of the educational process. This exploratory research examined the state of education from the perspective of American Indian young adults from various tribes in Nebraska. Instead of focusing on educational achievement, the emphasis of most educational research relating to American Indians, this study explored the model of education in existence. Additionally, researchers explored the …

Food Insecurity Among Homeless And Runaway Adolescents, Les B. Whitbeck, Xiaojin Chen, Kurt D. Johnson

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of food insecurity and factors related to it among homeless and runaway adolescents.

Design: Computer-assisted personal interviews were conducted with homeless and runaway adolescents directly on the streets and in shelters.

Setting: Interviews were conducted in eight Midwest cities: Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Kansas City, Lincoln, Omaha, St. Louis and Wichita.

Subjects: The subjects were 428 (187 males; 241 females) homeless and runaway adolescents aged 16–19 years. Average age of the adolescents was 17.4 (standard deviation 1.05) years.

Results: About one-third of the adolescents had experienced food …

Bio-Bibliography: John Barron Mays (1914-1987), Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

John Barron Mays developed a humane sociological perspective with multiple roots, including formal training in English, firsthand experience in a settlement house, a distinguished university professorship in sociology, and lifelong work as an active poet. Mays’ felicitous professional publications often spoke not only to university colleagues but also to constituencies beyond the halls of academe on a series of interrelated topics, including adolescence, criminology, education, urban life, and poetry.

Bio-Bibliography: William Clark Gordon (1865-1936), Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

William Clark Gordon was a clergyman and an early theorist of the relationships between literature and sociology. He earned a Ph.D. in the University of Chicago Divinity School in 1899 where he majored — within the School’s own Department of Sociology — in social institutions. As such, he completed his doctorate during the first full decade of Chicago’s pioneering sociological project — a fact noted but misattributed by Robert E. L. Faris (1967) to work in the University’s Department of Sociology in the Graduate School of Arts and Literature (Hill 2005). As a practicing clergyman, Gordon’s professional attentions focused on …

Mental Disorders Among Parents/Caretakers Of American Indian Early Adolescents In The Northern Midwest, Les B. Whitbeck, Dan R. Hoyt, Kurt Johnson, Xiaojin Chen

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Background: This study reports prevalence and comorbidty of five DSM-III-R diagnoses (alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, drug abuse, major depressive episode, and generalized anxiety disorder) among American Indian and Canadian First Nations parents/caretakers of children aged 10–12 years from the Northern Midwest United States and Canada. Lifetime prevalence rates were compared to adults in the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) and Southwest and Northern Plains cultures from the AI-SUPERPFP study.

Method: Native interviewers used computer-assisted personal interviews to administer the University of Michigan Composite International Diagnostic Interview (UM-CIDI) to 861 tribally enrolled parents and caretakers (625 females; 236 males) of 741 tribally …

Mental Disorders, Comorbidity, And Postrunaway Arrests Among Homeless And Runaway Adolescents, Xiaojin Chen, Lisa Thrane, Les B. Whitbeck, Kurt Johnson

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This study examined the associations between lifetime mental disorder, comorbidity, and self-reported postrunaway arrests among 428 (187 males, 241 females) homeless and runaway youth. The analysis examined the pattern of arrests across five lifetime mental disorders (alcohol abuse, drug abuse, conduct disorder, major depressive episode, and posttraumatic stress disorder). The adolescents, ranging from 16 to 19 years old, were interviewed directly on the streets and in shelters in four Midwestern states using computer-assisted personal interviewing. Extensive self-reports of early life history, behaviors since running away from home, and diagnostic interviewing (UM-CIDI and DISC-R) were used to estimate possible disorders. There …

A Longitudinal Study Of The Effects Of Early Abuse On Later Victimization Among High-Risk Adolescents, Kimberly A. Tyler, Katherine A. Johnson

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Although previous research on adolescents finds a link between early abuse and later victimization, the majority of this research is cross-sectional and based on samples of currently homeless adolescents. Therefore, factors that predict the likelihood of victimization have not been systematically examined. As such, the current study longitudinally examines the effects of early abuse and poor parenting on victimization via running away, delinquency, and early sexual onset among a sample of over 700 currently housed high-risk adolescents. Results revealed that having experienced sexual and physical abuse, as well as lower levels of parental monitoring and closeness, significantly predicted running away …

Current Expressions Of American Jewish Identity: An Analysis Of 114 Teenagers, Philip Schwadel

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This chapter explores the characteristics of 114 American teenagers' Jewish identities using data from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). The NSYR includes a telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of 3,290 adolescents aged 13 to 17. Jewish teenagers were over-sampled, resulting in a total of 3,370 teenage participants. Of the NSYR teens surveyed, 141 have at least one Jewish parent and 114 of them identify as Jewish. The NSYR also includes in-depth face-to-face interviews with a total of 267 U.S. teens: 23 who have at least one Jewish parent and 18 who identify as Jewish. The …

The Impact Of Support Received And Support Provision On Changes In Perceived Social Support Among Older Adults, Kimberly A. Tyler

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The current study uses longitudinal data from the 1993 U.S. Midwest floods to examine the influence of support received and support provision on changes in perceived social support among older adults exposed to an acute stressor. Results indicated that flood exposure and higher levels of social support at Time 1 were positively associated with both receiving social support and providing social support specific to the food. Individuals with higher levels of support provision and received support in turn reported higher levels of perceived support post disaster. Women were more likely to have received flood specific support and to have perceived …

Examining The Changing Influence Of Predictors On Adolescent Alcohol Misuse, Kimberly A. Tyler, Rosalie Torres Stone, Bianca Bersani

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the influence of key characteristics on adolescent alcohol misuse (is., maternal binge drinking, parenting, peers, school characteristics, and the adolescent's own behavior) change over time and whether predictors of adolescent alcohol misuse vary by gender and race/ethnicity. Using prospective, longitudinal data from a community sample, results revealed that mother's hinge drinking, peer drinking, and an early age of onset predicted higher levels of alcohol misuse when respondents were 14-16 years of age. Two years later, when adolescents were 16- 18 years of age, maternal binge drinking was no longer significant, however, …

Nebraska Sociology On The Ground: A Souvenir Booklet To Accompany An Historical Walking Tour Of Faces And Places On The Lincoln Campus, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This 1-hour and 15-minute walking tour leaves promptly from the Nebraska Undergraduate Sociology Symposium (NUSS), Regency Suite, Room C, in the UNL Nebraska Union, on the City Campus. The tour includes eight locales of sociological interest (see map on the last page of this booklet) and features brief pauses at the Nebraska State Historical Society and the UNL University Archives. The first 15 participants receive this printed souvenir tour guide and related handouts. The tour will be conducted regardless of weather (rain, snow, sleet or shine) — please dress accordingly.

Theory, Values, And Practice In The Legal Lifeworld Of Sociological Jurisprudence: Roscoe Pound’S Views On Professional Women, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The lived social dimensions of Roscoe Pound’s theories of sociological jurisprudence deserve criticism in light of his often progressive worldview and frequent support of civil liberties. Especially important in this regard are his views on women. Despite Sayre’s (1948: 390) assertion that “there is no dualism to Pound,” the archival record reveals internal contradictions. That is to say, Pound’s attitudes toward women were multi-dimensional. His social attitudes-inpractice informed his sociological ideas and thus illustrate the lived conflicts in his professional lifeworld.

Sociological Novels Reviewed In Sociology And Social Research, 1925-1958, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The Bibliographic Record reveals the novel as a distinctive and frequently used format for sociological inquiry and exposition. From 1925 to 1958, the pages of Sociology and Social Research identified and reviewed 140 examples of sociological novels. A bibliography of these novels is provided here, annotated with citations for the reviews in Sociology and Social Research. This “library” of sociological novels is a useful resource for research on American culture, student projects, and (not unimportantly) recreational reading that combines business with pleasure.

Under the editorship of Emory S. Bogardus, Sociology and Social Research routinely opened its pages to reviews …

Sociology And Poetry: An Introduction, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Poetry is a sociological reality. It has an institutional location within society, plays an important part in everyday social interaction, and promises very real results as a site for conceiving and explicating alternative social constellations. Simultaneously, poetry is sometimes difficult to grasp by those of decidedly a prosaic bent, and this includes too many sociologists. As poetry shapes — and is in turn shaped by — the active use of language in our culture on the respective parts of authors, speakers, hearers, readers, etc., the relevance and meaning of poetry can escape the sociological imagination when sociologists frame the social …

A Seven-Minute Sketch Of My Research, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

My central project is to identify, explicate, and better understand the fundamental dimensions, consequences, and possibilities of human embodiment in the social world. This project is multifaceted and is continually evolving. Virtually all of my work contributes directly to this project, including my analyses of archives, biography, “bomb talk,” bureaucracies, doctoral training, environmental art and design, epistemologies, landscapes, libraries, novels, organizations, patriarchy, pedestrians, postcards, research methodologies, scholars, surrogate parenting, terrorism, and — yes — disciplinary history. Methodologies I use include: archival excavation, bibliographic research, case studies, disguised interviews, ethological observation, experiential reflexivity, framing, genealogy, key informants, participant observation, questionnaires, site …

Effects Of Using Visual Design Principles To Group Response Options In Web Surveys, Jolene D. Smyth, Don A. Dillman, Leah M. Christian, Michael J. Stern

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

In this paper, we show that in Web questionnaires verbal and visual languages can be used to create groups and subgroups of information, which influence how respondents process Web questionnaires. Following Schwarz (1996; and also Schwarz, Grayson, & Knäuper, 1998) we argue that respondents act as cooperative communicators who use formal features of the questionnaire to help guide them through the survey conversation. Using data from three Web surveys of random samples of Washington State University undergraduates, we found that when response options are placed in close graphical proximity to each other and separated from other options, respondents perceive visual …

Bio-Bibliography: Stephen James Meredith Brown (1881-1962), Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Stephen James Meredith Brown, S.J., was born in County Down, Ireland, on 24 September 1881. He was educated at Clongowes Wood College and was ordained as a Jesuit in 1914. Brown also pursued studies at Tullabeg, Jersey, Paris, and Hastings. Teaching posts included Clongowes and University College. At the latter, he launched the post-graduate school of librarianship, serving on the faculty for 24 years. Brown founded the Central Catholic Library in 1922 and was its motive force for some four decades. He is remembered today as a major bibliographer of Irish literature.