Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Prenatal Care And Infant Mortality In Nevada, Douglas L. Garner, Roger Cleveland, A. Dexter Samuels, Tiffany G. Tyler

Social Health of Nevada Reports

The U.S. outspends all other industrial countries on health care, and yet Americans hardly enjoy better health (Gorman 2010). An American baby born in 2006 can expect to live 78 years – two years less than a baby born across the Canadian border. The U.S. ranks 28th in infant mortality out of the 30 major industrial countries (Gorman 2010). A large part of the gap in infant mortality can be traced to high infant death rates in certain populations, particularly African-Americans who make up about 13% of the total population. In 2005, infant mortality for non-Hispanic blacks in the U.S. …

Aging Trends And Challenges In Nevada, Jennifer Reid Keene, Kathryn Mcclain, Jacqueline Ragin

Social Health of Nevada Reports

Societal aging is one of the most important social trends of the 21st century. It affects our political, social, and economic institutions and also the nature of our interpersonal and family relationships (Quadagno 2011). In the coming decades, both as individuals and as a society, we will have to make important decisions regarding the consequences of our aging population. Policy makers, families, businesses, local, state, and federal governments, health care providers will have to meet the growing needs of the older population in the U.S. and in Nevada.

Income Distribution And Poverty In Nevada, Danielle Ely, Christina Morales, David R. Dickens Jr.

Social Health of Nevada Reports

In his famous visit to the U.S. early in the nineteenth century, the French observer Alexis de Tocqueville was surprised by what he saw as “an equality of condition” in his travels around the country. Although he commented on the existence of wealth in the new nation, he was impressed by what he saw as its relative lack of concentration (de Tocqueville 1969). Recent studies by social historians, however, discovered that de Tocqueville was mistaken. Further research suggests that a pattern of highly unequal distributions of wealth and income persisted from the time of the Revolution up through the end …

Housing Availability And Homelessness In Nevada, Dahn Shaulis, Kathleen Fairchild, Kurt Borchard

Social Health of Nevada Reports

The first edition of Housing Availability and Homelessness in Nevada was written in 2005 amid economic boom times and rapid population growth. At the publication of this revision, in 2011, Nevadans face crisis-level economic conditions profoundly affecting how we evaluate housing conditions in the Silver State. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their homes and tens of thousands are jobless and without benefits, putting them at greater risk of homelessness (Associated Press, 2011, Silva, 2011, Sermons and Witte, 2011). Housing availability and homelessness are social concerns looming larger than six years ago.

Immigration And Ethnic Diversity In Nevada, Thomas Wright, John P. Tuman, Maryam T. Stevenson

Social Health of Nevada Reports

In a few decades, non-Hispanic whites will constitute a bare majority in the United States. If current demographic trends continue, the Hispanic population will double or even triple in size by 2050, the Asian population will double, and the African-American population will grow at a faster pace than non-Hispanic whites, which are actually expected to begin declining by 2025. These developments promise to bring profound changes in the country’s ethnic and racial landscape.

Environment And Sustainability In Nevada, Mark J. Salvaggio, Robert Futrell

Social Health of Nevada Reports

When the inaugural Earth Day launched the first environmental decade in the U.S. more than forty years ago, protecting our air, water, land and other natural resources seemed a relatively straightforward task. Environmental polluters and exploiters would be brought to heel by tough laws. The U.S. and other industrialized nations responded to quality of life concerns associated with environmental degradation by adopting dozens of major environmental and resource policies and creating new institutions such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to manage environmental programs. Following these national developments, states and local communities began systematic efforts to address environmental problems.

Religion And Spirituality In Nevada, Ariane G. Mitchum, Michael Ian Borer

Social Health of Nevada Reports

Across the world, religion is integral to society insofar it shapes people’s thoughts, behaviors, and interactions. What exactly the term “religion” means, however, is far from clear-cut, as it continues to be a highly charged topic of discussion and debate, a subject that many hold dear and near to their hearts.

Nonprofit Sector And Philanthropy In Nevada, Jessica K. A. Word, Shauna Davis

Social Health of Nevada Reports

Many scholars and community organizers believe that nonprofit organizations embody the collective will of the community and reflect the measure of support communities provide their members (Saxton & Benson 2005). The overall strength of the nonprofit sector reflects the health of the society that nurtures these organizations (Salamon 2002; DeVita, Flemming, & Twombly 2001). Since nonprofits are vital to service delivery in the United States, by studying nonprofits practices we can better understand the nature and intensity of the social problems in a given area and the effective ways by which resources could be allocated to address those problems (Gronbjerg …

Sex Industry And Sex Workers In Nevada, Jennifer Heineman, Rachel T. Macfarlane, Barbara G. Brents

Social Health of Nevada Reports

Las Vegas has long been known as the symbolic center of the commercial sex industry. Nevada is host to the only legal system of prostitution in the United States. From the early legalization of quickie divorce and marriage to the marketing of its large resorts, sexuality has been a key component of Nevada’s tourist economy. If trends continue, for good or for ill, the sex industry will be an even larger part of the economy in the future.

Problem Gambling And Treatment In Nevada, Bo Bernhard, Sarah St. John

Social Health of Nevada Reports

For many years, it was moral experts, rather than medical and academic ones, who told us who gambled “too much.” Speaking from pulpits rather than podiums, church leaders informed us that gambling was uniquely subversive of the American way of life, for its something-for-nothing promise threatened to undermine the popular ethic of honest toil and gradual accumulation of goods. Samuel Hopkins, in an 1835 sermon on “The Evils of Gambling,” captured this sensibility: “Let the gambler know that he is watched, and marked; and that . . . he is loathed. Let the man who dares to furnish a resort …

Art And Cultural Participation In Nevada, Robert Tracy

Social Health of Nevada Reports

Pablo Picasso once famously observed that “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” As the second edition of the Social Health of Nevada report suggests, it certainly seems like the “dust of daily life” has descended on the souls of this State’s citizens and a thorough washing is necessary. With the economic collapse at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, Nevadans found out very quickly they were neither “protected” nor “immune” from the financial maelstrom that had been unleashed. Having lived in Las Vegas since 1984, I had heard …

Utilizing Technology In A Randomized Pilot Study For A Smoking Cessation Intervention: An Innovative Approach Using Sms Messaging Systems, Elise Garcia

McNair Poster Presentations

Objective: Previous randomized controlled trials of Short Message Service (SMS) technology in smoking cessation interventions have been proven to be effective. Upon the completion of our pilot study, we will investigate the combined effects of delivering self-help SMS text messages with candidates that rate < 8 on the Contemplation Ladder (intention to quit scale)in natural-based setting.

Method: A sample of (N=60) adult smokers from the Eugene Community intending to quit will come in our lab for two sessions (baseline and follow-up) where physiological tests and selfreports will be measured. Smokers will be allocated to one of three condition groups where they will be sent 6 text messages per day for …