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Public Support For The Death Penalty In A Red State: The Distrustful, The Angry, And The Unsure, Lisa Kort-Butler, Colleen M. Ray

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Set against the backdrop of Nebraska’s 2015 legislative repeal of the death penalty and the 2016 electoral reinstatement, we examined public support for capital punishment. Using two years of statewide survey data, we compared respondents who preferred the death penalty for murder, those who preferred other penalties, and those who were unsure, a respondent group often excluded from research. To understand what distinguishes among these groups, we examined media consumption, instrumental and expressive feelings about crime, and confidence and trust in the government regarding criminal justice. Results revealed that those who preferred the death penalty expressed more anger about crime …

Examining The Effects Of A Service-Trained Facility Dog On Stress In Children Undergoing Forensic Interview For Allegations Of Child Sexual Abuse, Cheryl A. Krause-Parello, Michele Thames, Colleen M. Ray, John Kolassa

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Disclosure of child sexual abuse can be a stressful experience for the child. Gaining a better understanding of how best to serve the child, while preserving the quality of their disclosure, is an ever-evolving process. The data to answer this question come from 51 children aged 4–16 (M = 9.1, SD = 3.5), who were referred to a child advocacy center in Virginia for a forensic interview (FI) following allegations of sexual abuse. A repeated measures design was conducted to examine how the presence of a service-trained facility dog (e.g. animal-assisted intervention (AAI) may serve as a mode of lowering …

Relationship Satisfaction Among Infertile Couples: Implications Of Gender And Self-Identification, Arthur L. Greil, Kathleen S. Slauson-Blevins, Julia Mcquillan, Michele H. Lowry, Andrea R. Burch, Karina M. Shreffler

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

We use path analysis to analyze heterosexual couples from the U.S. National Survey of Fertility Barriers, a probability-based sample of women and their male partners. We restrict the sample to couples in which the women are infertile. We estimate a path model of each partner’s relationship satisfaction on indicators of self-identifying as having a fertility problem or not at the individual and couple levels. We find a gender effect: for women, but not men, relationship satisfaction was significantly higher when neither partner self-identified as having a fertility problem. Women’s relationship satisfaction exerted a strong influence on their partners’ relationship satisfaction, …

Understanding The Link Between Victimization And Alcohol Use Among Homeless Youth Using Ecological Momentary Assessment, Kimberly A. Tyler, Kristen M. Olson, Colleen M. Ray

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Most prior research on victimization and alcohol use among homeless youth is retrospective and thus does not allow researchers to determine the sequencing of these events. We address this gap using ecological momentary assessment via short message service surveying with homeless youth during 30 days. Multilevel binary logistic regression results revealed that experiencing physical or sexual victimization on a specific day was positively associated with youth’s drinking alcohol later that day. Because ecological momentary assessment via short message service allows for such specificity, we can link a specific victimization experience with a current drinking episode. Thus, the time ordering of …

Prevalence And Trends In Morbidity And Disability Among Older Mexican Americans In The Southwestern United States, 1993–2013, Marc A. Garcia, Adriana M. Reyes

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This study examines the prevalence of morbidity and disability among older Mexican Americans using 5-year age groups. Twenty-year panel data from the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly are used to make detailed comparisons by nativity and gender. Results show that prevalence rates for most chronic conditions for both males and females do not vary by nativity. For disabilities, nativity is a significant predictor of increased instrumental activity of daily living disability for foreign-born females and reduced activity of daily living disability for U.S.-born males. Additionally, results show significant interactions between nativity and age cohorts, with …

A Comprehensive Analysis Of Morbidity Life Expectancies Among Older Hispanic Subgroups In The United States: Variation By Nativity And Country Of Origin, Marc A. Garcia, Catherine Garcia, Chi-Tsun Chiu, Mukaila Raji, Kyriakos S. Markides

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Background and Objectives: Although a clear advantage in mortality has been documented among older Hispanic subgroups, particularly the foreign-born, research examining health selectivity in morbidity life expectancies among older Hispanics are scarce. Differences in sociocultural characteristics among Hispanic subgroups may influence racial/ethnic and nativity disparities in morbidity. Research examining the heterogeneity among older Hispanic subgroups may further our understanding of why some Hispanics are able to preserve good health in old age, while others experience a health disadvantage. Thus, the primary goal of this analysis is to examine racial/ethnic, nativity, and country of origin differences in morbidity life expectancies among …

The Role Of Education In The Relationship Between Age Of Migration To The United States And Risk Of Cognitive Impairment Among Older Mexican Americans, Brian Downer, Marc A. Garcia, Joseph Saenz, Kyriakos S. Markides, Rebeca Wong

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Prior research indicates age of migration is associated with cognitive health outcomes among older Mexican Americans; however, factors that explain this relationship are unclear. This study used eight waves from the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly to examine the role of education in the risk for cognitive impairment (CI) by nativity, age of migration, and gender. Foreign-born women had a higher risk for CI than U.S.-born women, regardless of age of migration. After adjusting for education, this risk remained significant only for late-life migrant women (risk ratio [RR] = 1.28). Foreign-born men who migrated at …

Latent Risk Subtypes Based On Injection And Sexual Behavior Among People Who Inject Drugs In Rural Puerto Rico, Dane Hautala, Roberto Abadie, Courtney Thrash, Juan Carlos Reyes, Kirk Dombrowski

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Background—People who inject drugs (PWID) in Puerto Rico engage in high levels of injection and sexual risk behavior, and they are at high risk for HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) infection, relative to their US counterparts. Less is known, however, about the clustering of risk behavior conducive to HIV and HCV infection among rural Puerto Rican communities.

Objectives—The purpose of this study was to examine concurrent injection and sexual risk subtypes among a rural sample of PWID in Puerto Rico.

Methods—Data were drawn from a respondent-driven sample collected in 2015 of 315 PWID in 4 rural communities approximately 30–40 miles …

The Political Implications Of Religious Non-Affiliation In Emerging Adulthood, Philip Schwadel

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Religious non-affiliation has increased considerably in the U.S. over the last few decades. The contemporary generation of emerging adults is the first to have a sizable proportion raised with no religious affiliation. This article uses nationally representative, longitudinal survey data to examine how both non-affiliation in adolescence and switching to non-affiliation in emerging adulthood influence political interest, behaviors, orientation, and partisanship. The results show the following: 1) that unaffiliated emerging adults are less politically active than the religiously affiliated; 2) that the unaffiliated are relatively liberal and unlikely to be Republican; 3) that the unaffiliated are more likely than the …

Regional-Based Mitigation To Reduce Wildlife–Vehicle Collisions, Nathan P. Snow, Zhen Zhang, Andrew O. Finley, Brent A. Rudolph, William F. Porter, David M. Williams, Scott R. Winterstein

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Vehicular collisions with large ungulates pose serious challenges for managing and conserving large ungulates throughout the world. Despite the global frequency, mitigation efforts are mostly limited to localized hotspots and not effective on broad scales. Our goal was to determine whether dynamic, regional attributes could inform broader focus for mitigation efforts. We applied a spatiotemporal dynamic model to examine the regional influences on white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)–vehicle collisions (DVCs) throughout the Midwest United States from traffic, abundance of deer, and composition and configuration of the landscape during 2000–2011. The regions included eco-zones representing landscape dominated by shelter-forage habitats …

Civil Airports From A Landscape Perspective: A Multi-Scale Approach With Implications For Reducing Bird Strikes, Morgan B. Pfeiffer, Jason D. Kougher, Travis L. Devault

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Collisions between birds and aircraft are a global problem that jeopardizes human safety and causes economic losses. Although landscape features have been suggested as one of a number of factors contributing to bird strikes, no evidence exists to support this suggestion. We investigated the effects of landscape structure on the adverse effect (AE) bird strike rate at 98 civil airports in the United States. The number of reported AE bird strikes was standardized by air carrier movements between 2009 and 2015. Land use structure and composition were quantified within 3, 8, and 13 km radii extents from airports. We predicted …

State Management Of Human– Wildlife Conflicts, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Daniel Hirchert, Scott Hygnstrom

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Many positive experiences are associated with wildlife, from passively watching animals in our backyards to actively hunting in publicly owned forests. Unfortunately, wildlife can be a double- edged sword. Human– wildlife conflicts are pervasive in society, and nearly all segments—wealthy and in need, urban and rural, east and west—can experience problems with wildlife. Agricultural producers lose an estimated $45 billion each year as a result of crop and livestock damage caused by big game, predators, waterfowl, and other wildlife species (Conover 2002). Row crops, forages, rangeland, fruits, vegetables, ornamentals, turf, and livestock are susceptible to damage by wildlife at various …

Soci 101: Introduction To Sociology—A Peer Review Of Teaching Portfolio, Kelsy Burke

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This benchmark portfolio targets the Spring 2018 semester of SOCI 101: Introduction to Sociology, a large-enrollment course that combines lecture and recitation classes. It describes course objectives (my goals for the course); an overview of course content and a description of the students enrolled (the target audience); teaching methods (assignments and classroom activities); and assessment of student learning (analyzing quantitative and qualitative data of student performance). In order to evaluate course objectives and their relationship to teaching methods and student learning, I collected data from student feedback following each exam (a post-exam questionnaire). I then compared this feedback with assignment …

Aecn 376-Rural Community Economics: Engaging Students In Learning, Daniela M. Mattos

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

AECN376-Rural Community Economics attracts students with different economics background and interests. In the three previous years I taught this course I was struggling to find a balance in class activities to make the course more engaging and effective to all students. The usual method of delivery is lecture along with PowerPoint slides. While this is the dominant form of pedagogy, particularly in higher education (Harvard Magazine 2015, Time Magazine 2012), an increasing amount of research indicates that the somewhat passive learning environment of the lecture does not reach all students with the same efficiency. In creating this portfolio, my goals …

What Is “New” In The Study Of Religion And Language Teaching: An Essay From A Middle Ground Point Of View, Loukia K. Sarroub

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

One of the main arguments [Huamei] Han makes in her article [“Studying Religion and Language Teaching and Learning: Building a Subfield,” The Modern Language Journal, 102, 2, (2018), pp 432-445] is that “few scholars have studied religion and language teaching and learning in religious or secular institutions” and that a “subfield of religion and language teaching should “(a) focus on but also go beyond pedagogy and language classrooms at places of worship, such as church, synagogue, mosque and temples, or at religious schools, and into the wider religious and secular contexts in general, (b) treat language, religion and economy as …

Within And Beyond A Grow-Your-Own-Teacher Program: Documenting The Contextualized Preparation And Professional Development Experiences Of Critically Conscious Latina Teachers, Amanda Morales

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This study provides an account of seven Latina teachers’ select educational, professional, and personal experiences over the past 10 years as they completed a grow-your-own-teacher program, became licensed teachers, and established themselves in Latinx minority–majority public schools within their rural, mid-western community. More specifically, as a Latina researcher and participant observer, I sought to better understand the culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) Latina teachers’ process-oriented engagement and conscientization over time. Far from being ‘ready-made’ conscientized teachers, in this work I discuss the ways CLD Latina teachers’ multiple and developing identities as bilingual learners, mothers, racialized minorities in schools, and educated …

What Is To Be Done With Curriculum And Educational Foundations' Critical Knowledges? Toward Critical And Decolonizing Education Sciences, James C. Jupp, Theodorea Regina Berry, Amanda Morales, Ann Mogush Mason

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

As editors of the special issue in Teaching Education titled What Is To Be Done with Curriculum and Educational Foundations’ Critical Knowledges? New Qualitative Research on Conscientizing Preservice and In-Service Teachers, our purpose with this conceptual essay is twofold. First, we historicize and characterize the critical knowledges deployed in this special issue as a broad array of criticalities. Second, we provide a reading of these criticalities that together we tentatively call critical and decolonizing education sciences. In our discussion and conclusion, we focus on the dual challenges of developing work in critical and decolonizing education sciences: (a) …

Teacher Identity Work In Neoliberal Schooling Spaces, Jenelle Reeves

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Negotiation of teaching identities in neoliberal schooling spaces is examined. Dissonance between a teacher’s values (e.g. care for students) and neoliberalism’s tenets is documented. A model of teacher identity work is applied to data, illuminating teacher identity work processes. Opening identity work spaces of potentiality is recommended.

To be a teacher doing identity work in today’s educational policy climate, a teacher seeking her own ethical self-formation, will require the stamina and flexibility to live and teach within imperfect, even de-professionalizing contexts where a bit of double agency may serve one well. In this era of deprofessionalizing discourses and policies, teachers’ …

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (Nasis) 2018 Methodology Report, Bureau Of Sociological Research

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (NASIS)

Introduction 3

Mode Selection 3

Design & Item Selection 3

Sampling Design 4

Experimental Design Treatment 4

Data Collection Process 4

Response Rate 5

Data-Entry Training, Supervision, and Quality Control 5

Processing of Completed Surveys 5

Data Cleaning 5

Representativeness of the Survey 6

NASIS Sample Weights 6

Figures 8

Tables 9

Appendix A: Cover Letter 11

Appendix B: Formatted Mail Survey 13

Appendix C: Future Interest Research Form 45

Appendix D: Reminder Postcard 46

Appendix E: County Codes 47

Appendix F: Variables and Descriptions 48

Nasis: Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey -- Previous Core Items, Bureau Of Sociological Research

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (NASIS)

The NASIS survey varies from year to year depending on client needs, but every year a core group of items consisting of common demographics and quality of life measures are included. These include, for example, age, sex, education, community satisfaction, etc (for complete list, see below). These items are asked each year to provide key demographic information to all users of NASIS as well as comparability to other social indicator information.

The core items were reduced in 2018 in an effort to keep NASIS costs as low as possible and reduce respondent burden. You can find the current core items …

Sharing-Based Social Capital Associated With Harvest Production And Wealth In The Canadian Arctic, Elspeth Ready

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Social institutions that facilitate sharing and redistribution may help mitigate the impact of resource shocks. In the North American Arctic, traditional food sharing may direct food to those who need it and provide a form of natural insurance against temporal variability in hunting returns within households. Here, network properties that facilitate resource flow (network size, quality, and density) are examined in a country food sharing network comprising 109 Inuit households from a village in Nunavik (Canada), using regressions to investigate the relationships between these network measures and household socioeconomic attributes. The results show that although single women and elders have …

Self-Rated Health Trajectories Among Married Americans: Do Disparities Persist Over 20 Years?, Terceira A. Berdahl, Julia Mcquillan

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is to understand self-rated health (SRH) trajectories by social location (race/ethnicity by gender by social class) among married individuals in the United States. We estimate multilevel models of SRH using six observations from 1980 to 2000 from a nationally representative panel of married individuals initially aged 25–55 (Marital Instability Over the Life Course Study). Results indicate that gender, race/ethnicity, and social class are associated with initial SRH disparities. Women are less healthy than men; people of color are less healthy than whites; lower educated individuals are less healthy than higher educated individuals. Women’s health declined …

The Effects Of Respondent And Question Characteristics On Respondent Answering Behaviors In Telephone Interviews, Kristen Olson, Jolene Smyth, Amanda Ganshert

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

In a standardized telephone interview, respondents ideally are able to provide an answer that easily fits the response task. Deviations from this ideal question answering behavior are behavioral manifestations of breakdowns in the cognitive response process and partially reveal mechanisms underlying measurement error, but little is known about what question characteristics or types of respondents are associated with what types of deviations. Evaluations of question problems tend to look at one question characteristic at a time; yet questions are comprised of multiple characteristics, some of which are easier to experimentally manipulate (e.g., presence of a definition) than others (e.g., attitude …

The Effects Of Mismatches Between Survey Question Stems And Response Options On Data Quality And Responses, Jolene Smyth, Kristen Olson

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Several questionnaire design texts emphasize a dual role of question wording: the wording needs to express what is being measured and tell respondents how to answer. Researchers tend to focus heavily on the first of these goals, but sometimes overlook the second, resulting in question wording that does not match the response options provided (i.e., mismatches). Common examples are yes/no questions with ordinal or nominal response options, open-ended questions with closed-ended response options, and check-all-that apply questions with forced-choice response options. A slightly different type of mismatch utilizes a question stem that can be read as asking for two different …

Bullying At School And On The Street: Risk Factors And Outcomes Among Homeless Youth, Kimberly A. Tyler, Rachel Schmitz

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Though rates of bullying among general population youth are high, there is elevated prevalence among certain subgroups, in particular sexual minority homeless youth. Enduring bullying can have devastating consequences, including poor mental health, revictimization, and substance abuse. The current study compares risk factors (i.e., sexual orientation, gender, and child abuse) for being bullied both at school and on the street among homeless youth. We also examine the associations of both contexts of bullying (i.e., at school and on the street) with physical and sexual victimization while on the street, with illicit drug use. From July 2014 to October 2015, we …

Logics Of Freedom: Debating Religious Freedom Laws And Gay And Lesbian Rights, Emily Kazyak, Kelsy Burke, Mathew Stange

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

In the wake of marriage equality for same-sex couples, many states have introduced and passed laws that provide religious exemptions for certain services and benefits for LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) persons. The authors use data from a general population survey of Nebraskans as a mixed-methods case study to examine public opinion of religious freedom laws. Drawing on data from both closed-ended (n = 1,117) and openended (n = 838) questions, the authors show that opposition to religious freedom laws is quite high, as 64 percent of respondents report that they oppose laws that would allow business owners …

A Demands And Resources Approach To Understanding Faculty Turnover Intentions Due To Work–Family Balance, Megumi Watanabe, Christina Falci

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Using data collected on tenure-line faculty at a research-intensive Midwestern university, this study explored predictors of faculty job turnover intentions due to a desire for a better work–family balance. We adopted Voydanoff’s theoretical framework and included demands and resources both within and spanning across the work and family domains. Results showed that work-related demands and resources were much stronger predictors of work–family turnover intentions than family-related demands or resources. Specifically, work-to-family negative spillover was positively associated with work–family turnover intentions, and two work-related resources (job satisfaction and supportive work–family culture) were negatively associated with work–family turnover intentions. On the other …

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis And A ‘‘Death With Dignity’’, Jennifer A. Andersen

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The Oregon ‘‘Death With Dignity’’ Act (DWD Act) allows a terminally ill patient with 6 months to live to ask a physician for medication to end their life. To receive the medication, the DWD Act requires the patient to verbally request the prescription twice 2 weeks apart as well as in writing. Patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis have three main barriers to using DWD: (a) the ability to communicate their informed consent as the disease progresses further, (b) the possibility of dementia which may affect their decisional capacity, and (c) given the nature and speed of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, limited …

Framing And Cultivating The Story Of Crime: The Effects Of Media Use, Victimization, And Social Networks On Attitudes About Crime, Lisa Kort-Butler, Patrick Habecker

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The current study extended prior research by considering the effects of media, victimization, and network experiences on attitudes about crime and justice, drawing on the problem frame, cultivation, real-word, and interpersonal diffusion theses. Data were from a survey of Nebraska adults (n = 550) who were asked about their social networks; beliefs about media reliability; use of newspaper and news on TV, radio, and the Internet; and exposure to violence on TV, movies, and the Internet. Results indicated that viewing TV violence predicted worry and anger about crime. Believing the media are a reliable source of information about crime predicted …

Risk Factors For Forced, Incapacitated, And Coercive Sexual Victimization Among Sexual Minority And Heterosexual Male And Female College Students, Colleen M. Ray, Kimberly Tyler, Leslie Gordon Simons

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Although college students are at high risk for sexual victimization, the majority of research has focused on heterosexual students and often does not differentiate by victimization type. Thus, little is known about prevalence rates and risk factors for sexual victimization among sexual minority college students and whether the interaction between gender and sexual orientation differs by victimization type. To address these gaps, we examine whether risk factors for three types of sexual victimization (i.e., forced, incapacitated, and coerced) differ by gender (n = 681 males; n = 732 females) and sexual orientation (n = 1,294 heterosexual; n = …