Digital Commons Network^™

Parental Timing And Depressive Symptoms In Early Adulthood, Christina D. Falci, Jeylan Mortimer, Harmonijoie Noel

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Using data from a panel of 459 women, we find that early parents (birth) report higher levels of depressive symptoms in young adulthood (roughly age 29) compared to later parents (first birth in their 20s) or nonparents. Early parenting is also associated with more stressors and fewer resources in young adulthood. As young adults, early parents have lower educational attainment, less secure employment and a weaker sense of personal control; they also experience greater financial strain and more traumatic life events than later and nonparents. By the end of their 20s, early parents are also more likely to be single …

A Phenomenological Inquiry Of Chronic Homeless Individuals' Challenges To Independence, Dewana Hall

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Homelessness is a comprehensive social problem affecting approximately 744,000 people in the U.S. Despite consistent efforts from politicians, state and local leaders, and service providers, the number of homeless people continues to rise. Although there are some explanations in the literature to account for the increase of homelessness, the literature tends to not include the voices of the homeless themselves. The purpose of this phenomenological study, which used Maslow's hierarchy of needs as its conceptual framework, was to understand the life experiences of members of the homeless population, as perceived by four male residents of a mission in an eastern …

Racism And Biopower, Ladelle Mcwhorter

Philosophy Faculty Publications

While ignorance, or at least a lack of clear and distinct experience, does not seem to have stopped our predecessors from philosophizing about all manner of things from matter to immortal souls, in the latter half of the twentieth century North American philosophers became increasingly timid about advancing propositions based primarily not on logic informed by material evidence but on intuition, creative imagination, and passionate desire. By the 1960s our generation's teachers and mentors, perhaps battered by the McCarthy years or humbled by the dazzling successes of their colleagues in the "hard" sciences, had redrawn the disciplinary boundaries tightly enough …

Racism, Eugenics, And Ernst Mayr’S Account Of Species, Ladelle Mcwhorter

Philosophy Faculty Publications

At his death at age one hundred in 2005, Ernst Mayr was hailed as the greatest evolutionary biologist of the twentieth century. His definition of species, published in 1942 in Systematics and the Origin of Species and known as the “biological species concept,” is familiar to every tenth grader: “Species are groups of interbreeding natural populations that are reproductively isolated from other such groups.” That definition, together with Mayr’s and Theodosius Dobzhansky’s theory of speciation, enabled the integration of modern genetics and Darwinian evolutionary theory. In this paper I will argue that it imported racism into the heart of modern …

The Experience Of Upward Mobility, Lacey Jae Ritter

Honors Program Theses

Upward mobility is an interesting and highly valued phenomenon within American society. Due to American beliefs that hard work is the only requirement for success, individuals feel that moving up a social class from that of their class of origin is not impossible. Past research, however, shows that upward mobility is extremely difficult and quite unlikely. When individuals do achieve upward mobility, there are many consequences for doing so, including changes in relationships with family and friends. Most individuals receive emotional support from family and friends in their quest for mobility, yet the path to upward mobility is often begun …

Conversations With A Crime Boss: Doing Asian Criminal Business, Nafis Hanif, Mark Findlay

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Media piracy, in Malaysia, is organised through illicit negotiations between a dominant crime syndicate and consumers, street-corner gang leaders, the Malaysian police, custom officers and directors of the Malaysian Film Censorship Board. These key social actors who crossover class, race, religion, gang membership, and bridge porous legitimate and illegitimate commercial and political sectors of society establish a mutually collaborative relationship by negotiating their asymmetrical social capital, according to a conventional cost-benefit analysis. Contextual analyses of these illicit interactions identify criminal enterprise opportunities and plot the interactive progress of enterprise as it unfolds, against models of organisational and functional inter-connection. The …

Mate Selection, Margaret J. Cason, Norman P. Li

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife"—so wrote Jane Austen in Pride and Prejudice. From classic literature to contemporary screenplays, from the latest celebrity news to office gossip, it is nearly impossible to escape the pervasive topic of romantic relationships. Indeed, the pursuit of mates consumes a significant portion of our time and energy, and for good reason—mates give us companionship, pleasure, comfort, security, and even health benefits. As we discuss in this article, there are two major theoretical perspectives for understanding mate selection. …

Spirituality And Ageing : A Qualitative Study Of Religiosity Of Chinese Older Persons In Hong Kong, Yuk Ha Wong

Lingnan Theses

The life expectancy of Chinese people in Hong Kong is increasing and is amongst the longest in the world. However, many people, especially older persons may experience chronic ill-health and, less detectable, many may also be experiencing alienation, loneliness, meaninglessness and fear of death. Spirituality and spiritual care, which focus on the healing of the soul and quest for meaning, are important to many people as they age and face the prospect of death, and therefore they may have existential anxieties. A holistic healthcare approach, which views humans as bio-psycho-social-spiritual beings, stresses the importance of spirituality to people’s health and …

Do You Know How Your Children Are? International Perspectives On Child Abuse, Mistreatment, And Neglect, Gordon A. Crews, Angela D. Crews

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

In the early 1980s, televised public service announcements in the United States queried, “Parents …it is 10:00 pm, do you know where your children are?” These were launched through the media as reminders for American parents to take a moment and think about their children and to strive to inform themselves of their children‟s activities. Similar broadcasts to urge parents to interact with their children and to provide simple parenting tips have followed in various forms since this time. An interesting realization is that almost all of these “messages” were directed towards the parents by the government for the children. …

Aging And Sexual Orientation: A 25-Year Review Of The Literature, Anna M. Muraco, Karen I. Fredriksen-Goldsen

Sociology Faculty Works

In a review of 58 articles published between 1984 and 2008, this article synthesizes the recent state of social research on older lesbian, gay male, and bisexual adults in order to summarize existing knowledge about these groups, to guide future research on aging, and to identify the substantive issues affecting their lives. Based on a life-course perspective, the primary research domains identified include the interplay of lives and historical times and linked and interdependent lives. After reviewing the literature in each of these areas, the article presents an examination of the strengths and limitations of the body of knowledge and …

Guest Editorial: On Method, Technorealism And Aesthetic Capitalism, Patricia Ticineto Clough

Publications and Research

The guest editorial excerpts the keynote address Professor Clough held at the First Annual Graduate Student Conference hosted by the Graduate Center's Sociology Students Association.

Judicial Erasure Of Mixed-Race Discrimination, Nancy Leong

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Xenophobia: The Consequences Of Being A Zimbabwean In South Africa, Philip Edward Culbertson

Theses and Dissertations

This paper seeks to explain and describe the xenophobia and xenophobic attacks of Zimbabwean refugees and migrants in South Africa. The political and social instability in Zimbabwe has led to mass exodus of Zimbabweans in search of stability and a means to survive. Many of these Zimbabweans have sought opportunity and refuge in South Africa only to be met with hurdles that metastasized into xenophobia. Research was done on the target population of Zimbabweans in Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg, along with interviews conducted through Medicines Sans Frontiers, and active players in the civil society in Cape Town.

Domestication Alone Does Not Lead To Inequality: Intergenerational Wealth Transmission Among Horticulturalists, Michael Gurven, Monique Borgerhoff Mulder, Paul L. Hooper, Hillard Kaplan, Robert Quinlan, Rebecca Sear, Eric Schniter, Christopher Von Rueden, Samuel Bowles, Tom Hertz, Adrian Bell

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

We present empirical measures of wealth inequality and its intergenerational transmission among four horticulturalist populations. Wealth is construed broadly as embodied somatic and neural capital, including body size, fertility and cultural knowledge, material capital such as land and household wealth, and relational capital in the form of coalitional support and field labor. Wealth inequality is moderate for most forms of wealth, and intergenerational wealth transmission is low for material resources and moderate for embodied and relational wealth. Our analysis suggests that domestication alone does not transform social structure; rather, the presence of scarce, defensible resources may be required before inequality …

A Case Of One Professor's Teaching And Use Of Nature Of Science In An Introductory Chemistry Course, Mehmet Karakas

The Qualitative Report

In this article I provide a qualitative analysis of one faculty's teaching and answer the following research question: How does one chemistry professor who teaches introductory science incorporate aspects of the nature of science (NOS) into his course? This study concentrates on a single case in one private higher institution in the Northeastern United States. The participant's teaching style is presented through a combined presentation of interviews, classroom observations, and classroom activities. Six main themes emerged from the field notes in the areas of teacher actions, student teacher interactions, start of the lecture, incorporating NOS language in instruction, class size, …

"If You See Something, Say Something": The Power Of The 'War On Terrorism' To Name What We See, Polly Sylvia

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation seeks to understand the cultural politics of the "war on terrorism" through a case study of the "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign within the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority Subway System. Drawing upon literature that focuses on an understanding of the affective transmission of culture, this research seeks to understand this particular campaign as a technique of social control. Through a content analysis of the advertisements of this campaign and a performative methodology that analyzes the performance of security within the subway system, an understanding of the connections this local campaign (as a security campaign) …

Uncovering Medical And Mental Health Professionals' Decision-Making In The Treatment Of Trans-Variant Patients, Jodie M. Dewey

Dissertations

This project is a study of medical and mental health professionals who treat trans-variant patients. Using in-depth interviews, I show how providers describe the process by which they make decisions with patients who desire, through formal means, to hormonally and/or surgically transition from one gender to the other. This work uncovers the ways professionals make decisions in the absence or limitation of formal knowledge while simulaneously attemping to ground their work in this same knoweldge to obtain respect and legitimacy. Professionals must also acknowledge that they relinquesh some power to patients to make decisions which involve high risk for them. …

The City Imagined: Race, Place And Identity In The Making Of Urban Church, Jessica M. Barron

Master's Theses

In this study, I will explore the racial and urban imaginary of church leaders and members seeking to create an authentic and relevant church for Chicago's unchurched, young-adult urbanite. In their quest to develop a relevant church, the varied imaginations of the city of Chicago by leaders, volunteers and members come to the forefront. How these imaginations are fostered, incorporated, rebelled against or dismissed brings to light the politics of imagining the imagined city. This paper will discuss these varied, dueling, and sometimes contradictory imaginations informing the construction, operation, and branding campaigns of Urban Church. Particular focus will be paid …

Women And Math Performance: The Effects Of Stereotype Threat, Math Identity, And Gender Identity, Felicia W. Chu

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Citizen Professionals: The Effective Practices Of Experts Helping Community Organizations, Sarah Hippensteel Hall

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Although numerous local, state, and federal laws and policies address water pollution, many problems remain. To address these problems thousands of groups of citizens, who are concerned with their water resources - rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, and groundwater - organized around the U.S. over the past several decades. To succeed, these community organizations need the resources and capacity to reach their goals. To gain capacity, some community organizations turn to people outside the organization for assistance. Citizen professionals are helpers who work jointly with an organization to help develop an organization's adaptive capacity to deal with challenges and achieve goals. …

Cross-Race Relationships As Sites Of Transformation: Navigating The Protective Shell And The Insular Bubble, Karen Audrey Geiger

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The context of leadership has evolved to incorporate greater social identity differences. Therefore, learning ways to navigate differences in social identity becomes important work leaders must now do. Because these differences surface in relationship with others, examining a relational framework helps us understand the nature of what happens between people (Ely & Roberts, 2008). This study explored the processes by which Black African American and White European American women enact leadership by creating and sustaining cross-race relationships as they work to change unjust systems around them. Using grounded theory methodology (Charmaz, 2006; Strauss & Corbin, 1990), a model was developed …

“All The Men Here Have The Peter Pan Syndrome— They Don’T Want To Grow Up”: Navajo Adolescent Mothers’ Intimate Partner Relationships—A 15-Year Perspective, Rochelle L. Dalla, Alexandria M. Marchetti, Elizabeth (Beth) A. Sechrest, Jennifer L. White

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

In 1992 and 1995, data were collected from 29 Navajo Native American adolescent mothers. In 2007 and 2008, data were collected from 21 of the original 29 (72%). Guided by feminist family theory, this investigation sought to (a) examine Navajo adolescent mothers’ intimate partner relationships during the transition to parenthood, (b) identify themes in the young mothers’ intimate partnerships across time, and (c) assess participants’ psychosocial well-being in adulthood. Four themes emerged in the women’s long-term intimate relationships: limited support, substance abuse, infidelity, and intimate partner violence. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

An Integrated Approach To The Role Of Control In Child Maltreatment And Delinquency, Heather Page Kinnett

Online Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to integrate the labeling perspective and social support perspective into the central causal process of Charles Tittle's control balance theory. This will explain the linkages between child maltreatment and delinquency. The child maltreatment experience and the consequent label of victim affect a youth's self concept which in turn affects how a provoking event will be interpreted. The child maltreatment experience lessens the amount of control imbalance necessary for a provoking event to be interpreted as humiliating. The victim label also affects motivation for deviance indirectly through its effects on the control ratio and opportunity …

The Role Of The Family In Criminal Law, Gerard V. Bradley

Journal Articles

Privilege or Punish: Criminal Justice and the Challenge of Family Ties. Dan Markel, Jennifer M. Collins & Ethan J. Leib. Oxford University Press, 2009.

The authors of Privilege or Punish (PoP) pose two questions, one descriptive and the other morally evaluative. "First, how does the criminal justice system in this country approach the issue of family status? Second, how should family status be recognized, if at all, in a criminal justice system situated within a liberal democracy committed to egalitarian principles of nondiscrimination?"

Social Relationships And Mortality Risk: A Meta-Analytic Review, Julianne Holt-Lunstad

Faculty Publications

Background

The quality and quantity of individuals' social relationships has been linked not only to mental health but also to both morbidity and mortality.

Objectives

This meta-analytic review was conducted to determine the extent to which social relationships influence risk for mortality, which aspects of social relationships are most highly predictive, and which factors may moderate the risk.

Data Extraction

Data were extracted on several participant characteristics, including cause of mortality, initial health status, and pre-existing health conditions, as well as on study characteristics, including length of follow-up and type of assessment of social relationships.

Results

Across 148 studies (308,849 …

Clergy Family Systems Training And How It Changes Clergy Leadership Attitudes And Practices, Michael J. Aufderhar

Dissertations

Problem. Clergy persons without an awareness of their family system patterns and reactivity often exercise their leadership in unhealthy ways that are damaging to their congregations. This study described changes in leadership attitudes and practices experienced by clergy participants in a Family Systems training program conducted by Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Method. This qualitative case study followed a narrative design. I collected data while participating in the program and 3 years later conducted semi-structured person-to-person interviews with all participants who were willing and available. The data also include drawings by each participant depicting their experience before and after the intervention. …

Assessing Introductory Rural Sociology, Joseph F. Donnermeyer, Benjamin Gray

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

This article reports on the results of an assessment of an introductory rural sociology course offered at two land-grant universities, which are very different in size. These institutions are North Carolina A&T State University and The Ohio State University. The authors use similar assessment tools, including an embedded pre and post test of knowledge gained, students’ written comments to open-ended questions administered at the end of term about the quality of the class and the instructors, and the traditional, standardized Student Evaluation of Instruction, an instrument used across many universities. In addition, at OSU, a small group diagnostic of students …

Family Choices For The Career Woman In The Twenty-First Century, Gianna M. Koné

Theses and Graduate Projects

This study poses the question, "ls it possible for the twenty-first century woman to successfully integrate career and family, and if so, how?" Feminine identity, role, and fulfillment are changing and continue to transform in modern society. Today the twenty-first century woman struggles to integrate career, family, and home successfully while understanding the passion or driving force in her life. This research explores gender roles in order to understand, update, and find order in a chaotic world. Feminist thought and chaos theory are examined to see whether or not it is possible to integrate family and career in the new …

Initial Development Of The Sex Offender Attitude Scale., Brandon Coy Bogle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As long as the public maintains staunch and unwarranted negative attitudes toward sex offenders, little hope remains for released sex offenders to successfully reintegrate into society. Therefore, it is in the interest of society that we understand the nature of views of sex offenders so that attempts can be made to promote maximal reintegration and preventing recidivism. To date no valid psychometric instrument exists that measures attitudes toward sex offenders. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to develop such an instrument that will accurately measure stigma associated with sex offenders. Unrotated Prinicipal Components Factor Analysis revealed a single interpretable …

The Role Of Self-Efficacy, Family Support, Family Affection, And Family Conflict On Adolescent Academic Performance., Christine L. Pearson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Department of Education funded this study as a part of a larger longitudinal study to examine the relationship between the role of family environment factors and academic performance among adolescents. The participants included 685 middle school adolescents from rural and semirural public schools. Family environment factors were gathered using the Family Environment Scale (Moos & Moos, 1981) and included family conflict, family support, and showing affection. Standardized test scores across 4 domains and final course grades across 4 domains were collapsed and used as measures of academic performance. The moderating relationship between support, conflict, and academic performance was examined. …