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Family Structures And Children’S Behavioral Problems: A Latent Growth Curve Analysis, Don Kerr, Joseph Michalski

PSC Discussion Papers Series

The current article analyzes 1994-2000 data from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth to examine the relevance of family structures to trajectories of parental reports on hyperactivity - inattention among elementary school aged children. A latent growth modelling approach is used to compare children living in intact families, lone-parent families, stepfamilies, and families where parents divorced or separated. The results highlight the apparent advantages to living in intact families and the slightly greater risks experienced by children living in stepfamilies. Children in lone-parent families, while experiencing an initial disadvantage, displayed a similar trajectory on hyperactivity to children …

Communities, Place, And Conservation On Mount Kilimanjaro, Marie Bradshaw Durrant

Theses and Dissertations

The Chagga people have lived and worked on Mount Kilimanjaro for more than 250 years. Through traditions and social practices within their communities and families, strong bonds are established between the Chagga and their home on the mountain. Kilimanjaro National Park and Forest Reserve (KINAPA) was established in the 1970s to protect and conserve the mountain, based on a long history of colonialism and western ideals. As KINAPA has attempted to preserve the flora and fauna on the uppermost portion of Mount Kilimanjaro, they have alienated local residents from the land through a conservation approach that relies on "fences and …

Work And Family Life Trajectories Of Young Canadians: Evidence From The 2001 General Social Survey, Zenaida Ravanera, Rajulton Fernando

PSC Discussion Papers Series

From the 1980s, there has been a trend among young Canadians to delay their transition to adulthood. This is seen as an indicator of greater investment in career and work life (most often, with parental help) before investing in reproduction. However, there are concerns expressed particularly for women that those with smaller parental and personal resources follow a different life course trajectory. They become parents at younger ages and are more likely to experience family dissolution and lone parenthood.

The study uses Statistics Canada’s 2001 General Social Survey on Family History and focuses on men and women born from 1966 …

Transmission Of Migration Propensity Increases Genetic Divergence Between Populations, Alain Gagnon, Bruno Toupance, Marc Tremblay, Jan Beise, Evelyne Heyer

PSC Discussion Papers Series

The advent of molecular genetics has brought invaluable information, which is now routinely used by anthropologists in their attempt to reconstruct our demographic past. Since the mitochondrial DNA loci are much more similar between populations than are the Y chromosome loci, it has been suggested that women had a much higher migration rate than men throughout history. Based on an examination of intergenerational migration patterns in three large demographic databases, we bring this inference into question. In some early Canadian settlements (St. Lawrence Valley and Saguenay), and in the past Krummhörn region of Northwest Germany, men whose father was a …

Social Status Polarization In The Timing And Trajectories To Motherhood, Zenaida R. Ravanera, Rajulton Fernando

PSC Discussion Papers Series

This paper examines the polarization by socio-economic status of Canadian women’s timing of and trajectories to motherhood. The study uses data gathered through the 2001 GSS on Family History and focuses on women born from 1922 to 1980. Women with high social status are more likely to delay their entry into motherhood and to follow trajectories that include graduation from post-secondary education. In contrast, women with low social status are more likely to follow shorter routes, often bypassing graduation from post-secondary education, regular work, or marriage, and consequently start motherhood at younger age.

Stress And Adult Health: Impact Of Time Spent In Paid And Unpaid Work, And Its Division In Families, Roderic Beaujot, Robert Anderson

PSC Discussion Papers Series

Based on a sample representative of the Canadian population aged 30-59, this paper assesses the impact of time spent on productive activities, and various types of activities, on stress and health. The main finding is that the number of hours spent is a better predictor of stress than is the type of activity. Moreover, the effects of paid and unpaid work are additive rather than multiplicative. That is, the more people work, regardless of what they are doing, the more likely they are to feel stressed. Still, working irregular hours and non-traditional family models are also associated with poorer health …

Family Level Clustering Of Childhood Mortality In Kenya, D. Walter Rasugu Omariba

PSC Discussion Papers Series

Recent research on child mortality suggests that despite overall declines in mortality levels, mortality could remain relatively high due to a clustering of deaths in certain pockets of the population. Using data from the 1998 demographic and health survey (DHS) of Kenya this study examines child death clustering within families. The analysis first examines how known distant determinants of child mortality including socioeconomic and socio-cultural factors affect child survival, and how their effect is modified by proximate determinants of mortality including biodemographic and household environmental conditions. This is then followed by a control for family random effects to establish whether …

Probing The Future Of Mandatory Retirement In Canada, Don Kerr, Peter Ibbott, Roderic Beaujot

PSC Discussion Papers Series

The future of mandatory retirement is at least partly driven by the changing demographics. In Canada, these demographics include slowing population growth, rapid ageing, declining rates of labour force participation, and slowing growth of the labour force. After reviewing the demographic trends and considering alternate scenarios in labour force participation, we consider the determinants of early departures from the labour force, and suggest scenarios that might reverse these trends. With a decline in labour force entrants, delays in early life transitions and possible reductions in retirement benefits, a trend to retire later would bring mandatory retirement into question.

Bifurcation By Social Status In The Onset Of Fatherhood, Zenaida R. Ravanera, Rajulton Fernando

PSC Discussion Papers Series

Abstract not available

Exxonmobil: Capital Gains, Contemptible Costs, Brandi Halle, Allison Hamad, Jennifer Hixon, Noorjabeen Naseer

ESSAI

No abstract provided.

Si, Se Puede: Organizing Latino Immigrant Workers In South Omaha's Meatpacking Industry, Jacqulyn S. Gabriel

Student Work

Faced with declining union density and a growing immigrant workforce, the U.S. labor movement has begun to realize the importance of organizing Latino immigrant workers. However, the “conventional wisdom” among many within the movement is that these workers are “unorganizable.” Labor scholar Ruth Milkman (2002), for example, explains that the “conventional wisdom” is that immigrants are vulnerable, docile persons, intensely fearful of any confrontation with authority, who accept substandard wages and poor working conditions because their standard of comparison is drawn from their home countries, and who therefore are extremely unlikely to unionize. Through an in-depth study of a successful …

An Analysis Of Print Media Reporting Of Established Religions And New Religious Movements, Lonnie F. Griffin Iii

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis reports findings from a content analysis of 720 newspaper articles and 3,052 newspaper article cases focused on the issue of print media bias. Sunday editions of three major newspapers were drawn from the six-year period 1998-2003 for analysis. Prior research has uncovered print media bias in reporting of religious groups, and this thesis examines the substance of those claims pertaining to both established religions and new religious movements. Research findings show that established religions and their members are typically described in favorable or neutral terms, while new religious movements and their members are consistently described with pejorative terms. …

Social Assistance, Custody And Child Poverty: Cross-National Comparisons, Roderic Beaujot, Jianye Liu

PSC Discussion Papers Series

The prevalence of low income for children, especially for children in lone-parent families, varies considerably across countries. This paper considers five sets of hypotheses that may be relevant to the cross-national variability of child poverty. The tentative conclusion from this analysis in 20 countries is that reducing child poverty, and in lone-parent families in particular, requires several approaches. Provisions that would discourage teenage childbearing would have their importance, as would opportunities for lone mothers to work. More important is the generosity of social expenditure applying to individuals and especially to families. The present analysis also shows the advantages of encouraging …

Attitudes That Differentiate Alternative Family Sizes, Roderic Beaujot, Amir Erfani

PSC Discussion Papers Series

Taking advantage of both a national survey on families (Canadian General Social Survey, 2001) and a local qualitative survey (Orientations to Relationships and Childbearing over the Life Course, 2000), this paper studies the attitudes that differentiate respondents who indicate alternate expected or completed family size. While we find some evidence of differing values that differentiate those intending not to have children, there is more evidence of a common culture of reproduction than of heterogeneity in preferences. The alternative outcomes in family size would also appear to be a function of the difficulties experienced in relationships and problems of financial security, …

Critical Integration: Christianity And Sociology, Scott A. Monsma

Faculty Tenure Papers

No abstract provided.

What Does Research Tell Us About Classroom Discussion?, Jay R. Howard

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Howard explains why sociologists should be concerned with discussion in the college classroom.

Examining The Role Of Social Capital In Community Development: How The Creation Of A Land Trust Set A Small Town On The Path To Sustainability, Lynda A. Brushett

Doctoral Dissertations

Theoretical constructs of social capital and sustainable community development are examined through the lens of the lived experience of a small Vermont town. A case study of the community's land use planning history from the 1960's through to the present assesses the actions and relationships among individuals and institutions engaged in civic efforts to achieve environmental, economic, and social balance in development decision-making. The role of a land trust and its members as a community system changing variable---a self-organized institutional response to the concerns of citizens to the unsustainable development of their community---is evaluated. Findings describe the process whereby social …

Wealth And Social Responsibility: A Study Of Philanthropy In Southern New Hampshire And Southern Maine, Susan A. Lord

Doctoral Dissertations

This is a study of individual philanthropists and their beliefs and practices of philanthropy in southern New Hampshire and southern Maine. It examines the patterns and social structures of philanthropy in these areas, looking particularly at issues of class, culture, social capital, and civic participation.

Based on in-depth interviews conducted with 40 wealthy philanthropists in 2002 and 2003, the study findings suggest that I uncovered a population of philanthropists that had not been studied before. These sample philanthropists are not simply using their wealth to maintain the status quo and perpetuate their position in society, as past studies have found …

Shifting Worlds: Leading Educational *Change In A Quantum Universe, Mary O Douglas Singer

Doctoral Dissertations

The twentieth century theories of quantum physics and chaos theory in mathematics have had an impact across disciplines, but in many ways educational leaders have been trapped in the old Newtonian paradigm. The conceptual portion of this study bridges the paradigms to suggest new ways to view school leadership for the twenty-first century, using New Science constructs, systems thinking, and leadership concepts of business writers Senge (1990) and Wheatley (1992). It argues that such business models are appropriate for school organizations, and builds a conceptual model of a quantum principal who may participate in creating change through transformation (Burns, 1978) …

Arthur Raper: Modern Realist In The New Deal South, Louis Mazzari

Doctoral Dissertations

Arthur Raper was a progressive sociologist and controversial voice for racial and social equality in the South during the 1920s and 1930s. Son of a white, North Carolina farm family, Raper became allied with modernist voices at Chapel Hill and the University of Chicago. Raper's research was widely discussed through the region and greatly influenced Southern race relations in the years leading to the civil rights movement.

Raper was the first white southerner to look critically and scientifically at the causes of racial violence. The Tragedy of Lynching (1933) was reviewed in hundreds of Southern newspapers and discussed throughout the …

Asian American Perspectives On College Student Experience: An Interpretive Narrative, Linda Chen Einsiedler

Doctoral Dissertations

This is a socio-cultural study examining contemporary Asian American college student experiences at a private liberal arts residential college in the rural Northeast United States. This project utilizes a grounded theory approach designed to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. The findings include a narrative interpretation that considers emotional experiences and social behaviors as sub-consciously held internalized identity beliefs.

This project details psychological and social dimensions of shared Asian American experiences with insights into individual interpretive perspective frameworks shaped by community cultures. This study describes a distinctive Asian American identity that conjoins ethnicity with racial self-identity. Variables in ethnic identity, …

Corporal Punishment As A Determinant Of Developmental Outcomes: Longitudinal And Process Models, Matthew K. Mulvaney

Doctoral Dissertations

There were two goals of this research: (1) to establish that normative corporal punishment has an impact on children's mental health and the parent-child relationship and (2) to identify intrapersonal variables that determine the impact of this parenting behavior. The first study examined the influence of corporal punishment across infancy and early childhood with longitudinal analyses performed on data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. The results suggest that corporal punishment does have a direct, unique impact on children's mental health and on the mother-child relationship. For the second study, a college sample was studied …

The Relative Impact Of Childhood Stressor Domains On Young Adult Depression And The Mediating Role Of Social And Personal Resources, Paul A. Muller

Doctoral Dissertations

Numerous studies have documented the harmful effects of childhood exposure to adversity on adult psychopathology. The relative impact of different types of stress, however, is less certain. Moreover, while there is very good evidence that childhood exposure to adversity does increase the likelihood of experiencing psychopathology, less is known about the mechanisms through which this happens. It is my hypothesis that childhood adversity exhibits effects on psychological distress in young adulthood, at least in part, through its damaging impact on the development of social and personal resources---specifically, by affecting a reduction in family support, peer support, self-esteem, and mastery. Further, …

Needling Doubts: A Sociological Examination Of Parental Resistance To Childhood Immunizations, Catherine L. Moran

Doctoral Dissertations

Within recent years, a group of parents who question or oppose vaccination has emerged in the United States. While recently receiving attention within medicine and public health, parental questioning of and resistance to childhood immunization is a trend that has yet to be examined within sociology. This dissertation explores the role of parental characteristics, beliefs, and attitudes on resistance to pediatric immunization.

Thirty-five in-depth interviews with parents who postponed or refused vaccinations for their children were conducted. Qualitative data were used to develop a survey instrument including a series of scales measuring parental beliefs and attitudes about pediatric vaccination. The …

Cs 640 Sociology Of Religion, James R. Thobaben

Syllabi

McGuire, Meredith B., Religion: The Social Context [read entire book] Kivisto, Peter, Social Theory: Roots & Branches [read all EXCEPT skim Chapters 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 15, 17, 20, 25, 28, 29, 32, 33, 35, 36, 41, 43, 45, 52, 54, 58, 59, 65, 68, 69] Stark & Finke, Acts of Faith [read entire book] Thobaben, James R. "Ecclesiology & Covenant: Christian Social Institutions in a Pluralistic Setting" (on closed reserve)

Factors Affecting Community Well-Being: Implication For Social Assessment, Becky E. Summer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Leaders, Followers, And Free Riders: The Community Lawyer's Dilemma When Representing Non-Democratic Client Organizations, Michael Diamond, Aaron O'Toole

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article explores various aspects of the dissonance between the democratic ideal and the reality of groups in disenfranchised and disempowered communities. The authors discuss the intersection of democracy and community action by examining the sociology of groups and the social psychology of leaders and followers. They also examine the role of, and choices presented to, an attorney working in a community and for a local community group.

Investigating The Relationship Between Parenting Styles And Delinquent Behavior, Danielle J. Terry

McNair Scholars Journal

Although numerous studies have examined the connection between delinquent behavior and parenting styles in children and adolescents, limited research has been done to determine if there is an ongoing relationship between these variables in the college population. This study included 38 college students and examined the relationship between parenting styles; families studied were authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and uninvolved. It was predicted that authoritarian parenting practices would be highly correlated with delinquent behavior, particularly for students with a difficult temperament and low family cohesion.

The Biological Basis Of Commitment: Does One Size Fit All?, Naomi R. Cahn, June Carbone

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Understanding the biological roots of intimate behavior is a complex undertaking that involves the integration of evolutionary biology, evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, anthropology and sociology. Evolutionary biology describes theories that explain the persistence of certain types of behavior in terms of presumed evolutionary pressures or advantages, focusing on the human mind. Evolutionary biologists assume that behavior that maximizes the presence of associated genes in the next generation is the behavior most likely to persist. In this paper, we take the growing insights that arise from the study of the biology of attachment to frame the emerging policy choices underlying the governance …

A Sociological Theory Of Depression: An Integrated Approach To Optimism And Pessimism, Toward Effective Resolution Of A Societal Problem, Jenny R. Shayani

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

In using symbolic interactionist theory to explore depression as an epidemic in our society, this study uses the concept of "reality construction" to show that cultivating an optimistic explanatory style may reduce susceptibility to depression. It is my intention to use a symbolic interactionist approach of the concept of the "mind" to aid in identification of the reality construction of the depressed individual. The Psychological Social Psychology concepts of attribution style and explanatory style are useful in understanding optimistic and pessimistic perspectives of reality construction. This thesis provides a micro-level link to the idea that an optimistic explanatory style reduces …