Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Soldiers To Scientists: Military Service, Gender, And Stem Degree Earning, Christina Steidl, Regina E. Werum, Sela R. Harcey, Jacob Absalon, Alice Millermacphee

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The authors use 2014–2018 data from the American Community Survey to answer two questions: To what extent is military service associated with higher rates of earning a bachelor’s degree in a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field (vs. a non-STEM field)? To what extent is this relationship gendered? The findings suggest that military service is associated with higher odds of completing a STEM degree and that this association is particularly strong for female veterans. Comparison across multiple STEM definitions suggests that military service does not simply channel women into traditionally female-dominated STEM fields. Instead, the findings show the biggest …

Soldiers To Scientists: Military Service, Gender, And Stem Degree Earning, Christina Steidl, Regina E. Werum, Sela R. Harcey, Jacob Absalon, Alice Millermacphee

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The authors use 2014–2018 data from the American Community Survey to answer two questions: To what extent is military service associated with higher rates of earning a bachelor’s degree in a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field (vs. a non-STEM field)? To what extent is this relationship gendered? The findings suggest that military service is associated with higher odds of completing a STEM degree and that this association is particularly strong for female veterans. Comparison across multiple STEM definitions suggests that military service does not simply channel women into traditionally female-dominated STEM fields. Instead, the findings show the biggest …

Why Does The Importance Of Education For Health Differ Across The United States?, Blakelee R. Kemp, Jennifer Karas Montez

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The positive association between educational attainment and adult health (“the gradient”) is stronger in some areas of the United States than in others. Explanations for the geographic pattern have not been rigorously investigated. Grounded in a contextual and life-course perspective, the aim of this study is to assess childhood circumstances (e.g., childhood health, compulsory schooling laws) and adult circumstances (e.g., wealth, lifestyles, economic policies) as potential explanations. Using data on U.S.-born adults aged 50 to 59 years at baseline (n = 13,095) and followed for up to 16 years across the 1998 to 2014 waves of the Health and Retirement …

Cognition And Context: Rural–Urban Differences In Cognitive Aging Among Older Mexican Adults, Joseph L. Saenz, Brian Downer, Marc A. Garcia, Rebeca Wong

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Objective—To describe differences in cognitive functioning across rural and urban areas among older Mexican adults.

Method—We include respondents aged 50+ in the 2012 Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS). Cognitive functioning by domain is regressed as a function of community size. The role of educational attainment in explaining rural/urban differences in cognitive functioning is examined.

Results—Respondents residing in more rural areas performed worse across five cognitive domains. The majority, but not all, of the association between community size and cognitive functioning was explained by lower education in rural areas.

Discussion—Respondents residing in more rural areas were disadvantaged in terms of …

Observed Quality And Consistency Of Fifth Graders’ Teacher–Student Interactions: Associations With Feelings, Engagement, And Performance In School, Jennifer Locasale-Crouch, Faiza Jamil, Robert C. Pianta, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Jamie Decoster

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

This study examined how overall quality and within-day consistency in fifth graders’ teacher-student interactions related to feelings about, engagement, and academic performance in school. Participants were 956 children in a national study. Students who experienced higher quality interactions reported more positive feelings about school, were more engaged, performed better in math and reading, and had more closeness and less conflict with teachers. Independent of overall interaction quality, students who experienced less consistency in their interactions with teachers, whether it was with the same teacher or across teachers, were less engaged and had more teacher-reported conflict. Findings emphasize the separate contributions …

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 …

Does Higher Education Cause Religious Decline? A Longitudinal Analysis Of The Within- And Between-Person Effects Of Higher Education On Religiosity, Philip Schwadel

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Although there is ample empirical evidence of the associations between higher education and various aspects of religiosity, the causal mechanisms producing these associations remain unclear. I use four waves of longitudinal data, with respondents ranging in age from 13 to 29, to model the within- and between-person effects of higher education on several measures of religiosity. The results show that earning a bachelor’s degree is associated with within-person declines in some but not all measured aspects of religiosity, which partially supports the argument that higher education causes religious decline. The results also suggest that those predisposed to attending religious services …

Parenting Behaviors, Adolescent Depressive Symptoms, And Problem Behavior: The Role Of Self-Esteem And School Adjustment Difficulties Among Chinese Adolescents, Cixin Wang, Yan Ruth Xia, Wenzhen Li, Stephan M. Wilson, Kevin Bush, Gary Peterson

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

Cross-sectional data from 589 Chinese adolescents were used to investigate whether parenting behaviors are directly or indirectly (through self-esteem and school adjustment difficulties) associated with adolescent depressive symptoms and problem behavior. Structural equation modeling results showed that school adjustment difficulties fully mediated the relations between two parenting behaviors (parental punitiveness and paternal monitoring) and adolescent problem behavior and partially mediated the relation between maternal monitoring and adolescent problem behavior. Adolescent self-esteem partially mediated the relations between maternal punitiveness and adolescent depressive symptoms and fully mediated the relations between parental support and adolescent depressive symptoms. Parental love withdrawal was not significantly …

Sins Of Our Fathers (And Mothers): Impact Of Parental Incarceration Upon Education Outcomes, Patrick Habecker

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In 2007, it was estimated that 2.3% of all children in the U.S. under the age of 18 had a parent currently in prison or jail (Glaze and Maruschak 2008). A growing body of research on the experiences of children who have had a parent to go prison or jail has exposed a number of detrimental outcomes associated with parental incarceration, including lower education outcomes (Foster and Hagan 2007), higher risk of mental health problems (Farrington et al. 2001), and increased contact with the criminal justice system later in life (Huebner and Gustafson 2007). This study used data from the …