Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Decision To Breastfeed In The United States: Does Race Matter?, Renata Forste Phd, Jessica Weiss Bs, Emily Lippincott Bs

Faculty Publications

Objectives. To estimate the effects of maternal and birth characteristics on the decision to breastfeed and to relate breastfeeding practices to racial differences in infant mortality.

Methods. Using a sample of women with young children from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), Cycle V, 1995, the likelihood of breastfeeding was modeled using logistic regression techniques. In addition, single, live births from the NSFG 1988 and 1995 surveys were analyzed to model the effects of race and breastfeeding on infant mortality using Cox regression methods.

Results. After controlling for socioeconomic background and birth characteristics, race remained a strong predictor of …

Social Influence On Paranormal Beliefs, Barry N. Markovsky, Shane R. Thye

Faculty Publications

In spite of strong public expressions of skepticism from the scientific community, polls show that more than nine out of ten American adults profess belief in paranormal phenomena. Some scientists view this as a social problem, directing much blame (but little research) at a variety of sources including lack of critical thinking skills, fads, need for transcendent experiences, failure of the educational system, and cultural cycles. Social impact theory provides an alternative focus: it views paranormal beliefs as a natural consequence of social influence processes in interpersonal settings. In this study, subjects in a laboratory experiment were informed that some …

Men Kissing, Lisa M. Tillmann Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

The author, a heterosexual woman, uses the theme of men kissing to show relational dynamics in her fieldwork community, a network of gay male friends. Political implications of public same-sex kissing also are discussed. At the time the events described in "Men Kissing" occurred (1997) and for six more years, it was not legal for persons of the same sex to be intimate in Florida and 13 other states.