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Articles 1 - 17 of 17
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Understanding Arson Through Community Resilience, Rhena South
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
"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
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
"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
"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
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. …
Female Offenders Of Intimate Partner Homicide: Victim, Offender, And Case Characteristics, Alec Szalewski
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
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 …
Black, White, And Read All Over: Exploring Racial Bias In Print Media Coverage Of Serial Rape Cases, Lauren Wright
Black, White, And Read All Over: Exploring Racial Bias In Print Media Coverage Of Serial Rape Cases, Lauren Wright
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The discussion of race and crime has been a long-standing interest of researchers, with statistics consistently showing an overrepresentation of non-white offenders compared to their white counterparts – specifically in relation to violent crimes such as murder and rape. Prior research has found that about 46 percent of serial rapists are black, a fact that correlates with other sensationalized violent crimes such as mass murder and serial murder. The news media are the primary sources of this kind of information for the general public, with previous studies acknowledging that the media primarily focus on discussing non-white offenders in their crime-based …