Sociology Commons^™

Age Of Migration And The Incidence Of Cognitive Impairment: A Cohort Study Of Elder Mexican-Americans, Marc A. Garcia, Adriana M. Reyes, Brian Downer, Joseph L. Saenz, Rafael A. Samper-Ternent, Mukaila Raji

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Background and Objectives: To explore nativity and age of migration differentials in the incidence of cognitive impairment among older Mexican-Americans. Research Design and Methods: We employ maximum-likelihood discrete time hazard models to estimate risk ratios of cognitive impairment in a sample of 2,708 Mexican-Americans 65 and older who were cognitively healthy at baseline over a follow-up period of up to 20 years. Results: Late-life immigrant women have a 46% higher risk of cognitive impairment compared to U.S.-born Mexican- American women. Conversely, midlife immigrant men have a 29% lower risk of cognitive impairment compared to U.S.- born Mexican-American men. The incidence …

The Role Of Education In The Association Between Race/Ethnicity/Nativity, Cognitive Impairment, And Dementia Among Older Adults In The United States, Marc A. Garcia, Joseph Saenz, Brian Downer, Rebeca Wong

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND—Older Black and Hispanic adults are more likely to be cognitively impaired than older White adults. Disadvantages in educational achievement for minority and immigrant populations may contribute to disparities in cognitive impairment.

OBJECTIVE—Examine the role of education in racial/ethnic and nativity differences in cognitive impairment/no dementia (CIND) and dementia among older US adults.

METHODS—Data comes from the 2012 Health and Retirement Study. A total of 19,099 participants aged ≥50 were included in the analysis. Participants were categorized as having normal cognition, CIND, or dementia based on the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS) or questions from a proxy interview. We …

Sociocultural Variability In The Latino Population: Age Patterns And Differences In Morbidity Among Older Us Adults, Catherine Garcia, Marc A. Garcia, Jennifer A. Alishire

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND—The US Latino population is rapidly aging and becoming increasingly diverse with respect to nativity and national origin. Increased longevity along with medical advancements in treatment have resulted in a higher number of older Latinos living with morbidity. Therefore, there is a need to understand variability in Latino health among older adults.

OBJECTIVES—This paper documents mid- and late-life health differences in morbidity by race/ethnicity, nativity, and country of origin among adults aged 50 and older.

METHODS—We use data from the 2000–2015 National Health Interview Survey to calculate age-and gender-specific proportions based on reports of five morbidity measures: hypertension, heart disease, …

Life Expectancies With Depression By Age Of Migration And Gender Among Older Mexican Americans, Catherine García, Marc A. Garcia, Chi-Tsun Chiu, Fernando I. Rivera, Mukaila Raji

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Background and Objectives: Prior studies examining depression among older Mexican Americans suggest both women and immigrants are at higher risk of depressive symptomatology than males and U.S.-born Mexican Americans. We use data from the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly to examine whether life expectancy with depression and without depression varies by nativity, age of migration, and gender.

Research Design and Methods: Sullivan-based life tables were used to estimate depression life expectancies among Mexican Americans aged 65 years and older residing in the Southwestern United States. Depression is based on the 20-item Center for Epidemiological Studies …

Effects Of A Government-Academic Partnership: Has The Nsf-Census Bureau Research Network Helped Improve The U.S. Statistical System?, Daniel H. Weinberg,, John M. Abowd, Robert F. Belli, Noel Cressie, David C. Folch, S. H. Holan, Margaret C. Levenstein, Kristen Olson, Jerome P. Reiter, Matthew D. Shapiro, Jolene Smyth, Leen-Kiat Soh, Bruce D. Spencer, Seth E. Spielman, Lars Vilhuber, Christopher K. Wikle

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The National Science Foundation-Census Bureau Research Network (NCRN) was established in 2011 to create interdisciplinary research nodes on methodological questions of interest and significance to the broader research community and to the Federal Statistical System (FSS), particularly to the Census Bureau. The activities to date have covered both fundamental and applied statistical research and have focused at least in part on the training of current and future generations of researchers in skills of relevance to surveys and alternative measurement of economic units, households, and persons. This article focuses on some of the key research findings of the eight nodes, organized …

Cross-National Variation In The Social Origins And Religious Consequences Of Religious Non-Affiliation, Philip Schwadel

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

I argue that the social implications of religious non-affiliation vary across cultural contexts, leading to differences across nations in both who is likely to be unaffiliated and the religious consequences of such non-affiliation. I test these propositions by examining cross-national variation in associations with non-affiliation using multilevel models and cross-sectional survey data from almost 70,000 respondents in 52 nations. The results indicate that: 1) both individual characteristics (gender, age, and marital status) and nation-level attributes (GDP, communism, and regulation of religion) strongly predict religious non-affiliation; 2) differences in non-affiliation by individual-level attributes—women vs. men, old vs. young, and married vs. …

Project Spraoi: The Effectiveness Of A Nutrition And Physical Activity Intervention On The Dietry Intake, Dietary Patterns, Nutritional Knowledge And Markers Of Health Of Irish Primary School Children, Alison Merrotsy

PhDs

Aim: To implement and evaluate the effectiveness of a nutrition and physical activity (PA) intervention (Project Spraoi) on dietary intake (DI), dietary patterns (DP), nutritional knowledge (NK), cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), blood pressure (BP) and markers of health of Irish children in one primary school in Cork. The relationship between DP and NK, CRF, BP and anthropometric data will also be examined.

Design: Cross-sectional and longitudinal study. Food diary, NK questionnaire and 550m walk/run test were used to assess DI, DP, NK and CRF, respectively. BP, body mass index (BMI) and waist to height ratio (WHtR) were also calculated.

Setting: Two …

A New Measure For End Of Life Planning, Preparation, And Preferences In Huntington Disease: Hdqlife End Of Life Planning, Noelle E Carlozzi, E A Hahn, S A Frank, J S Perlmutter, N D Downing, M K Mccormack, S Barton, M A Nance, S G Schilling, Hdqlife Site Investigators And Coordinators

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Faculty Scholarship

BACKGROUND: Huntington disease is a fatal inherited neurodegenerative disease. Because the end result of Huntington disease is death due to Huntington disease-related causes, there is a need for better understanding and caring for individuals at their end of life.

AIM: The purpose of this study was to develop a new measure to evaluate end of life planning.

DESIGN: We conducted qualitative focus groups, solicited expert input, and completed a literature review to develop a 16-item measure to evaluate important aspects of end of life planning for Huntington disease. Item response theory and differential item functioning analyses were utilized to examine …

Marriageable Us, Undesirable Them : Reproducing Social Inequalities Through Marital Boundaries, Yuching Cheng

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Previous efforts applying a one-identity-at-work model suggest that upward mobility serves as an engine for marital assimilation. This model allows for the identification of immigrant conditions for integration. However, it does not fully explain the racial and gender asymmetry associated with intermarriage. I am applying an intersectionality approach to addressing issues concerning when and how group differences affect the construction of marriageability, defined as marital boundaries based on us/ them distinctions. Drawing from interviews with 67 highly achieving, Chinese-speaking immigrants and their children residing in the San Diego area, I present evidence illustrating the interactive effects among race, ethnicity, nation, …

Now, Tomorrow, Forever The Persistence Of School Segregation In America, Dustin Connors

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision has long been heralded as a landmark ruling and as evidence of America's progress toward a more accepting and equitable society. What is less widely known outside of academic circles is the extent to which that ruling failed to provide the equality its supporters were seeking. Today, America is still wrestling with a crisis most of us thought long solved: the racial segregation within our school districts. In my documentary film entitled Now, Tomorrow, Forever: The Persistence of School Segregation in America, I will set out to explore the state …

The Comparative Lethality Of Two Disparate World Regions : An Examination Of Latin America And Europe To Explain Discrepant Homicide Trends, Karise Marie Curtis

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Within recent decades, homicide rates in Latin American nations have strongly diverged from those of European nations. The former experienced a sharp increase in the last two decades, while the latter have experienced the oft-characterized “modern crime decline.” However, few studies have endeavored to explain this divergence, and many that do often attribute any differences to a regional dummy variable said to characterize some unique phenomenon occurring in the region (i.e., machismo) without modeling specifically for levels of said phenomenon. As such, this study uses a panel extension of a well-known homicide model (Land, McCall, & Cohen, 1990) in a …

Beyond The Parental Generation : The Influences Of Grandparents' Socioeconomic Status On Grandchildren's Wellbeing, Ying Huang

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Health disparities in relation to socioeconomic status are persistent and pervasive in the United States. My dissertation investigates the intergenerational determinants of child wellbeing. Driven by several life course models as well as the cumulative (dis)advantage theory, this dissertation examines whether and how grandparental socioeconomic status (SES) shapes the health and cognitive skills of their grandchildren, paying special attention to identifying direct and indirect processes, and assesses the heterogeneous effects by child race. Analyses are based on longitudinal data from the U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the supplemental studies of Child Development Supplement (CDS). I use multivariate …

The Impacts Of Hiv-Specific Criminal Laws On Hiv Serostatus Disclosure, Risk Behaviors, And Hiv Testing, Shao-Chiu Juan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Before the advent of anti-retroviral therapy (ART), many states enacted and strictly enforced laws that criminalized HIV transmission. These laws were enacted to prevent HIV-infected individuals from knowingly transmitting the virus to the uninfected. Over the past two decades, however, questions have been raised regarding the effectiveness of HIV criminalization and its unintended consequences. For example, there is little evidence that the criminalization of HIV transmission has been effective in reducing the spread of the disease, particularly when compared to education and other prevention efforts. Moreover, stigmatization associated with criminalization may actually undermine public health efforts. The dissertation aims to …

The Making Of Multicultural Korea : Religious Women's Discourses Towards Ethnic And Sexual Diversity, Gowoon Jung

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

A lively body of literature has explored the majority Korean public’s rapidly changing attitudes and opinions on immigrants and LGBT persons, drawing on large-scale quantitative data amidst the Korean government’s pro-multicultural policies and programs in the wake of neoliberal global pressure. In contrast to the scholarly endeavor to highlight the role of the government, another line of literature, so-called “the liberal-democracy thesis”, illuminates the important role of civil society actors such as non-government organizations and faith-based organizations to advocate minority rights and nurture a minority-friendly atmosphere. However, there have been few academic attempts to investigate the role of religious organizations …

Perceptions Of Justice : Views Of Jailed Defendants On Procedural And Distributive Justice, Kirstin Anne Morgan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The current study examines defendant perceptions of their recent experiences in one of two criminal courts in an urban-suburban county. Forty-three interviews were conducted with jail sentenced participants, during which they were asked about the perceived fairness of the case process and outcomes, as well as their relationship with their defense attorney for the case. This study was undertaken to answer four research questions: 1) Are the concepts of procedural and distributive justice related from the defendant perspective? 2) Are perceptions of procedural justice related to satisfaction with case outcomes? 3) Are perceptions of procedural justice related to satisfaction with …

An Exploration Of Caregiver Engagement In Residential Treatment For Youth, Raquel Moriarty Derrick

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Support for caregiver engagement in their child’s residential treatment is widespread and growing because of the benefits of caregiver engagement to a youth’s treatment process. This dissertation explores the construct of caregiver engagement, defined as caregiver motivation and expectation for their child’s treatment, caregiver bond with staff and caregiver collaboration on treatment goals and tasks among a cohort of 101 caregivers with a child in a Residential Treatment Center (RTC). Mixed methods were used to qualitatively and quantitatively explore caregiver perspectives and experiences that contribute to or detract from their level of engagement in their child’s treatment process. Findings reveal …

Three Methodological Innovations In Race And Ethnicity Research, Jeffrey Napierala

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation examines topics related to racial and ethnic diversity through three essays. Each essay takes a new perspective on a current issue in the literature and utilizes a unique statistical methodology to address that issue. The first essay uses the Monte Carlo Simulation Method to develop a measure of segregation for the ACS and uses it to assess whether the ACS is useful for measuring segregation in places with different sizes. The second essay considers whether a relatively unexplored factor, genetics, is correlated with migration. This perspective broadens our understanding of why migration occurs and is perpetuated over time. …

"I Think That's Really What It Comes Down To, Is Intimacy": Lgbtq+ Polyamory And The Queering Of Intimacy, Emily Pain

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Polyamory is an intimate practice, identity, and philosophy that permits open and honest relationships with multiple partners and centers on values such as communication, trust, and egalitarianism. The limited body of existing research on polyamory has contributed important perspectives towards a sociological understanding of polyamorous relationship negotiations and family challenges; however, it has focused primarily on privileged groups, drawing participants from polyamorous communities that are largely comprised of white, middle-class, heterosexual cisgender men and bisexual cisgender women. LGBTQ+ (‘queer’) lives have been severely marginalized in this literature, reinforcing oppressive gender and sexual hierarchies and leaving many important questions unanswered. Moreover, …

The Criminological Implications Of Moral Foundations, Jasmine Renee Silver

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Judgments about morality play an important role in several areas of crime and justice. This dissertation applies Haidt’s Moral Foundations Theory (MFT)—which posits that judgments about morality are intuitive and pluralistic—to develop a theoretical framework for understanding the role of moral cognition in shaping attitudes and behaviors related to crime and justice. I also draw on research suggesting that people make moral judgments separately about moral agents (e.g., offenders) and moral patients (e.g., victims). Specifically, via an offender-centered theoretical framework, I argue that endorsement of moral foundations that promote moral concerns that are specific to one’s ingroup (a binding motive) …

Social Control, Family Structure, And Juvenile Delinquency In Fragile Families, Alison Van Glad

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Families come in many different structures and sizes, therefore; it is critical to examine how families impact children. Empirical research has shown that a child’s upbringing has the potential to influence delinquent behavior. However, existing literature using Fragile Families has not tested this association at the most recent wave. This thesis examines the relationship between family structure, relationships with parents, conventional beliefs, parental incarceration and juvenile delinquency at age 15 using Hirschi’s social control theory. Data from year 15 of Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing is employed to test these relationships using ordinary least squares regression models. Models one through …