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The Subject Librarian Newsletter, Sociology, Fall 2017, Rebecca M. Murphey Oct 2017

The Subject Librarian Newsletter, Sociology, Fall 2017, Rebecca M. Murphey

Libraries' Newsletters

No abstract provided.


Learning From A Complex Communications Experiment In My Own Home, Carolyn Massiah Jul 2017

Learning From A Complex Communications Experiment In My Own Home, Carolyn Massiah

UCF Forum

I am living in what I believe is the most complex communications experiment that could be designed by researchers.


The World Is Complex – That's Why We Need All Of Us, Bruce Janz Jul 2017

The World Is Complex – That's Why We Need All Of Us, Bruce Janz

UCF Forum

Humanities is just about reading old books and writing new ones, isn’t it? Not anymore – think digital.


Leadership Is About Developing 1 Voice And 1 Movement, Germayne Graham Jun 2017

Leadership Is About Developing 1 Voice And 1 Movement, Germayne Graham

UCF Forum

When your time to lead comes, what practices will define your leadership?


Allow The Waves To Do Their Work, Carolyn Massiah May 2017

Allow The Waves To Do Their Work, Carolyn Massiah

UCF Forum

I have found that the beach is one of the most relaxing places to visit.


Much Of My Work Ethic, Time Management I Have Learned Through Parenting, Germayne Graham Apr 2017

Much Of My Work Ethic, Time Management I Have Learned Through Parenting, Germayne Graham

UCF Forum

I was cleaning up the house one day and stumbled across a homemade Mother’s Day card that one of my children made for me. It was so beautifully written in scribbles with crayons and decorated with glitter and sparkles.


With A Little Help From My Friends..., Meg K. Scharf Mar 2017

With A Little Help From My Friends..., Meg K. Scharf

UCF Forum

Do I have enough friends?


I Still Love Watching Films On Big Screen – Despite Trend To Small Screens, Amanda Osorio Mar 2017

I Still Love Watching Films On Big Screen – Despite Trend To Small Screens, Amanda Osorio

UCF Forum

I’ve always been a fan of movies. And not just watching them, but also analyzing them: who the director was, why they shot a scene a certain way, who produced it, the making of the film, who starred in it and why, the ratings, reviews and more.


It's Time To Spring Clean Your Closets — And Personal Relationships, Carolyn Massiah Mar 2017

It's Time To Spring Clean Your Closets — And Personal Relationships, Carolyn Massiah

UCF Forum

I looked at my calendar recently and realized that spring is rapidly approaching. Each year at this time, I’m like millions of others who undertake the task of spring cleaning our homes.


In These Troubled Times Of Public Discourse, Is There Still A Place For Dialogue?, Bruce Janz Mar 2017

In These Troubled Times Of Public Discourse, Is There Still A Place For Dialogue?, Bruce Janz

UCF Forum

Carl von Clausewitz, the great theorist of war, said: “War is not merely an act of policy but a true political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse, carried on with other means.” What he meant was that even in the time of war, there are other kinds of dialogue happening, and war is not an act that happens because of the failure of dialogue, but is just another component in it.


Never Underestimate The Power Of Forgiveness, Germayne Graham Feb 2017

Never Underestimate The Power Of Forgiveness, Germayne Graham

UCF Forum

For many people, forgiveness issues may go undetected because they ignore the obvious signs that they have not let go of a past hurt. I believe that in order to experience total freedom in life, one must constantly do a forgiveness check – as I once did with my biological father.


United Against Poverty: Social Return On Investment Step And Msgp: Executive Summary, Amy Donley Jan 2017

United Against Poverty: Social Return On Investment Step And Msgp: Executive Summary, Amy Donley

Institute for Social and Behavioral Science (ISBS)

No abstract provided.


Relationships That Have Roots Are The Anchors In Our Lives, Carolyn Massiah Jan 2017

Relationships That Have Roots Are The Anchors In Our Lives, Carolyn Massiah

UCF Forum

The view in my backyard is a conservation area full of various types of trees. As the seasons pass, the trees lose their leaves and even some of their branches, but the trees remain in large part due to their sturdy roots.


Understanding Arson Through Community Resilience, Rhena South Jan 2017

Understanding Arson Through Community Resilience, Rhena South

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over 40,000 arsons were reported in the 2014 Uniform Crime Report; however, this number is underestimated since there are no official arson trends reported by the FBI due to the lack of agencies reporting this offense. Arson is one of the most destructive and under researched crimes. This lack of research can be attributed to the dual definition of arson – that is, the destruction of one's own property or someone else's property – the opportunistic nature of arson, and the inability to determine a measurable rate. The current study uses data from the Chicago Police Department's Citizen Law Enforcement …


Predicting Gun Ownership In America: Birth Cohort, Political Views, And Attitudes Towards Gun Control Legislation, Jared Adams Jan 2017

Predicting Gun Ownership In America: Birth Cohort, Political Views, And Attitudes Towards Gun Control Legislation, Jared Adams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With mass shootings occurring with frightening regularity, research into gun ownership behavior is becoming increasingly important for public policy creation and public safety. While extant research tells us that firearm ownership is woven deep into the historical fabric of American culture, scholarship has yet to fully explore predictors for gun ownership. Employing 2015 Pew Research Center political survey data, this study examines the predictive effects of birth cohort, political ideology, and attitudes towards gun control legislation on gun ownership, with and without controls, using hierarchical binary logistic regression models. The presented models examine three separate cohorts: The Millennials, Generation X, …


Dating Violence Victimization And Substance Use: Do Genes Play A Role?, Alexis Yohros Jan 2017

Dating Violence Victimization And Substance Use: Do Genes Play A Role?, Alexis Yohros

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dating violence (DV) victimization in adolescence has been shown to be predictive of both negative emotions and delinquent behavior later in life. However, research that delves into DV victimization and subsequent outcomes, such as deviant behavior, is largely atheoretical. Robert Agnew's general strain theory (GST) provides a theoretical framework to address this limitation. In focusing on negative interactions with others, the theory posits that strain produces negative affect states which leads to deviant or criminal coping. Prior research has identified victimization as a strain, a type of noxious stimuli, which is significantly related to negative emotionality, crime, and deviance. I …


A Place In The Pew: Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Individuals' Perceptions Of Religious Traditions, Mandi Barringer Jan 2017

A Place In The Pew: Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Individuals' Perceptions Of Religious Traditions, Mandi Barringer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research shows that sexual minorities have been criticized and rejected by nearly every major religious group in the United States. The cumulative alienation that sexual minorities experience from mainline religious groups may leave them feeling disillusioned and even hostile toward religious organizations which have historically rejected them. However, research to date has not explored sexual minorities' perceptions of religious collectives in the United States. The current study examines the variations between lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals regarding their religious beliefs and perceptions of religious collectives' attitudes toward the LGB and transgender (LGBT) population. Utilizing data from the 2013 Pew …


Abortion Attitudes And Subjective Religiosity: Examining A Fourfold Typology, Christopher Guido Jan 2017

Abortion Attitudes And Subjective Religiosity: Examining A Fourfold Typology, Christopher Guido

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This is an exploratory study that examins the relationship between religious persons and attitudes toward legal abortion. This study presents a fourfold typology of respondents: (1) pro-choice, but not religious, (2) pro-choice and religious, (3) pro-life, but not religious, and (4) pro-life and religious. This study looks for characteristics of respondents in these categories. As previous research was examined on the relationship between religion and abortion attitudes, the question on what social characteristics make up the four categories of pro-choice and pro-life respondents was examined. Findings show that social characteristics of respondents vary across categories of subjective religiosity and attitudes …


Keep Your Thoughts Off My Body: Social Attitudes Toward Rape-Related Abortions, Ketty Fernandez Jan 2017

Keep Your Thoughts Off My Body: Social Attitudes Toward Rape-Related Abortions, Ketty Fernandez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the legalization of abortion in 1973, abortion continues to be an ongoing debate among pro-choice and pro-life groups, and politicians, and is one of the many barriers women may face. As rape continues in being a significant social issue, rape-related pregnancies and abortions have been understudied. By using the General Social Survey (GSS), this paper analyzes various sociodemographic variables which may influence social attitudes toward rape-related abortions. Findings indicate that Blacks, women, those living in the South, and age were not significant predictors of whether a pregnant woman should have a legal abortion as a result of rape. Other …


Impacts Of Workplace Violence: The Role Of Inequality, Lindsey Singer Jan 2017

Impacts Of Workplace Violence: The Role Of Inequality, Lindsey Singer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 2011 the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) reported that of people who are employed and aged 16 and older, 24% of nonfatal violent incidents happened at work. To understand the magnitude of the problem, from 2005 to 2009, 572,000 nonfatal workplace crimes occurred against people aged 16 or older. Annually, the rate of workplace violence was about 5 victimizations per 1,000 employed persons aged 16 and older (Harrell 2011). The impact of crime on victims is a topic that deserves attention because it extends our understanding beyond descriptive rates of violence. Workplace victimization, like most other types of victimizations …


The Use Of Alcohol And The Impact On The Use Of Threats In Domestic Violence Cases, Amanda Zammit Jan 2017

The Use Of Alcohol And The Impact On The Use Of Threats In Domestic Violence Cases, Amanda Zammit

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Domestic Violence is a public health issue that is affecting millions of people annually. Police reports can give a unique aspect of cases that involve domestic violence because the narrative is a firsthand report of the violent incident. Using domestic violence case reports gathered from a law enforcement database at a county Sheriff's office in Florida, the current study examines whether alcohol use in domestic violence incidents influences threats that the victim receives during the incident. Logistic regression analysis indicates that alcohol use does not significantly impact threats that the victim receives during a domestic violence altercation. However, the study …


Damned To Hell: The Black Church Experience For College Educated Lesbians, Gays, And Bisexuals, Edwanna Andrews Jan 2017

Damned To Hell: The Black Church Experience For College Educated Lesbians, Gays, And Bisexuals, Edwanna Andrews

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite increased acceptance nationally towards same-sex sexuality, intolerance within the Black Church against those who identify as lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) continues to persist. As one of the most important institutions in the African American community, the significance of the Black Church makes the religious experience particularly influential. LGBs frequently experience homonegativity in the Black Church in the form of homophobic laced sermons, Microaggressions, and church gossip. The stigma LGBs encounter around homosexuality in the Black Church has created a dissonance between their religious beliefs, faith, and sexual identity. This study explores the multifaceted experience of lesbian, gay, and …


"Why You Gotta Be So Mean?" Examining The Impact Of Underlying Social Factors On Traditional And Cyberbullying Offending, Emily Strohacker Jan 2017

"Why You Gotta Be So Mean?" Examining The Impact Of Underlying Social Factors On Traditional And Cyberbullying Offending, Emily Strohacker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Instances of traditional school yard bullying among adolescents have been examined by researchers for decades. More recently, cyberbullying has been introduced among adolescents and has begun to be seen as a counterpart to traditional offending behaviors. Scholars have examined the rates of these types of offending, as well as the negative outcomes that result from victimization. However, studies examining the underlying factors that lead to these types of offending, specifically a comparison and combination of the two, are few and far between. This research examines how factors of strain, association with deviant peers, alcohol and/or drug use, and time spent …


Sexual Violence Victimization And Prescription Drug Misuse: An Analysis Using General Strain Theory, Corey Pomykacz Jan 2017

Sexual Violence Victimization And Prescription Drug Misuse: An Analysis Using General Strain Theory, Corey Pomykacz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sexual violence among college women is a widespread and severe public health issue in the United States. When compared to women in the general public, collegiate women are at an increased risk of sexual violence. Sexual violence can result in damaging and long-term consequences for the victim. Consequences of sexual violence include physical injuries, psychological distress, social withdrawal, poor grades and participation in health risk behaviors. While a connection between sexual violence victimization and negative outcomes is well established, most of the research in this area is atheoretical. To address this gap in the literature this study relied on Robert …


"Yeah I'M A Girl. I Play Video Games.": Identity Work Of Collegiate Women Gamers, Emily Rosenbaum Jan 2017

"Yeah I'M A Girl. I Play Video Games.": Identity Work Of Collegiate Women Gamers, Emily Rosenbaum

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite accounting for almost half of the game playing population, women gamers are an underrepresented and excluded group within the gaming culture, both in regards to the advertising and production of video games. Prior research suggests that male gamers exclude women from gaming activities, question their legitimacy within the community, and create hostile environments for women both virtually in-game and in physical gaming spaces. As such, women gamers can be understood to hold a marginalized status with the gaming community. The current study looks to examine how women define themselves as "gamers" while negotiating this marginalized status. By adopting an …


"The Best Thing Sociology Can Do": The Transformative Potential Of A Community Action And Involvement Class, Brenda Savage Jan 2017

"The Best Thing Sociology Can Do": The Transformative Potential Of A Community Action And Involvement Class, Brenda Savage

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research explores the transformative potential of a Community Action and Involvement course, an undergraduate sociological elective taught at a large southeastern university, to develop or support undergraduates' sense of personal agency and provide the resources necessary for them to engage in the work of social change. The research is rooted in both Bourdieu's conceptualization of habitus and the work of Carmen Mills (2008) on the simultaneous existence of a reproductive and transformative habitus within students. This is a mixed methods study, which includes the analysis of pre- and post-course survey data and over 800 student writings collected during the …


Faculty Knowledge And Readiness In Reporting Student Victimization Disclosure And Title Ix Compliance, Abigail Malick Jan 2017

Faculty Knowledge And Readiness In Reporting Student Victimization Disclosure And Title Ix Compliance, Abigail Malick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The U.S. Department of Education and Title IX Educational Act of 1972 shaped the way institutions of higher education address and prevent student victimizations. The law originally sought to eliminate sex-based discrimination in education but has evolved to include sexual misconduct. Since the Dear Colleague Letter of 2011, the position of institutions has changed significantly in the way they address student victimization as it relates to dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking (Rosenthal, 2017). One requirement is that institutions inform and train Responsible Employees to report when a student discloses experiencing sexual misconduct, including dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking. …


Views Of Reality: Perceptions Of Police Responses To Mentally Ill People, Kiara L. Gonzalez Cruz Jan 2017

Views Of Reality: Perceptions Of Police Responses To Mentally Ill People, Kiara L. Gonzalez Cruz

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Society’s views about mental illness can influence their views regarding police-response strategies used with the mentally ill. The purpose of this study is to analyze the question: does mental illness impact perceptions of delinquent behavior and police responses? It is important to understand the effects of these interactions to better assist those affected by mental illness and avoid uncertain risks/injuries to the police and citizens involved in an incident. Labeling theory suggests that people may come to identify and act in ways that reflect how others label them as well as come to define mentally ill individuals in accordance with …


Female Offenders Of Intimate Partner Homicide: Victim, Offender, And Case Characteristics, Alec Szalewski Jan 2017

Female Offenders Of Intimate Partner Homicide: Victim, Offender, And Case Characteristics, Alec Szalewski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Intimate partner homicide (IPH) represents between 10% and 16% of all homicides (Catalano, Smith, Snyder, & Rand, 2009; Cooper & Smith, 2011; Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2011; Gruenewald & Pridemore, 2009). Yet, research on gender-specific IPH offending is lacking at the individual offense level, especially when a woman is the offender. The majority of the research assessing gender-specific IPH offending examines motivations, as well as situational and structural variables. For instance, motivations may include self-defense or jealousy and situational variables may include employment status or past criminal histories. Structural variables include macro-level concepts such as poverty, education, or income. The …


Then And Now: Using Syllabi To Shape The College Classroom, Jessica Valentin Jan 2017

Then And Now: Using Syllabi To Shape The College Classroom, Jessica Valentin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While the college classroom has been researched, its climate has received little attention in research. This study analyzes the climate of the classroom using 189 syllabi from various sociology courses. Drawing from data collected by Grauerholz and Gibson (2006) and syllabi from the Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology (TRAILS), the current study compares college classroom syllabi from two different times periods (pre-2005 and post- 2010) to analyze the frequency of classroom climate statements, the variables that may contribute to the presence of a statement, and common language/themes existent in syllabi that did contain a statement. Results showed a …