Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Does Endogamous Marriage Impact Women's Fertility Gaps In India?, Natalya Francis Schafer

Master's Theses

This study aimed to measure the possible impact endogamous (within-family) marriage practices could have on women's fertility gaps in India. Fertility gap in this study is defined as the difference between the ideal number of children a woman desires and the total number of children born to a woman at time of interview. In many developing countries ,such as India, it is common for women to be overachieving their fertility - having more children than desired. Data from the CIA.gov (2024) shows total fertility rates to be highest in developing areas across Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and India. The …

How Marital Stress May Affect The Onset Of Dementia In Older Adults, Khunza Asma

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Marital stress has been identified as a significant factor influencing the cognitive health of older adults, with emerging evidence suggesting a potential link between marital discord and the risk of developing dementia. This study will review the existing literature on the relationship between chronic stress, depression, marital discord, and the development of cognitive impairment which can increase the risk of developing dementia in older adults. However, the purpose of studying how marital stress affects the onset of dementia is to deepen our understanding of the complex interplay between psychosocial factors and cognitive health in older adults, with the ultimate goal …

Reading Rent: Interracial Relationships And Racial Hierarchies, Susanna A. Perez-Field

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In examining the musical Rent by Jonathan Larson (1995) and its film adaptation by Chris Columbus (2005), most scholarly work and analyses have focused on the work’s identity as a queer text. I assert that elements of this musical have been overlooked for its depth of racial and class hierarchies. Utilizing sociological theory and interracial relationships, I will examine characters and musical numbers to explore diversity and class positioning.

I will explore Rent for themes of racial, gender, and sexual identities and how they are presented through the friendships and romantic relationships of the eight principal characters (alphabetically): Angel, Benny, …

Three Essays On The Economics Of Children’S Health And Education In Nepal, Khusiman Pun

Economics ETDs

First essay: This paper studies the impact of Nepal’s 1996-2006 Maoist insurgency on the nutritional status of children. We employ the difference-in-difference (DID) model. The proxy for conflict intensity is killings per thousand population (KPT). The finding of our study is that a marginal increase in KPT decreases the height-for-age (HAZ) of the children by 0.0844. The loss in child health was statistically not significant in both non-poor and poor households. Therefore, the impact of the insurgency on child health is largely driven by the negative effect of the insurgency on Janajaties, irrespective of their economic status.

Second essay: This …

Securely Ever After: Attachment,Trust, And Commitment In Married Adult Adoptees, Jill P. Burgon

Theses and Dissertations

Past research suggests that adoptees face a higher risk of insecure attachment and encounter more challenges related to trust and commitment in their romantic relationships compared to nonadopted individuals. This study examines the association between adoption status and marital security among newly married couples, with a focus on the potential moderating role of gender. Using data from a representative sample of newly married couples in the United States (n = 2,110), the relationship between adoption status and multiple measures of marital security were measured using OLS regression. Findings indicate that, during the early stages of marriage, adult adoptees exhibited comparable …

Men, Women, And Italians: The Masquerade Of Narrative And Identity In Richardson's Sir Charles Grandison, Ruth A. Holmes

English Theses & Dissertations

The chaotic masquerades that proliferated during the British long eighteenth century punctuated the period’s preoccupation with order and categorization. The identity categories that the masquerade disrupted, the novel reinforced, or perhaps even created. It was in the middle of this period, in the political center of Britain, that Samuel Richardson published his third and final novel, The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1753), a novel which centers England and was also centered by England, a national treasure entangled in literary and cultural history. Tracing the nexus of gender and nationalism in Grandison then becomes important given the novel’s active entanglement …

Understanding Gendered Hierarchy In Highly Religious Couples, Jolyn C. Schraedel

Theses and Dissertations

Although religious beliefs often associate with gendered hierarchy in sociological studies, very few studies have examined religion and gendered hierarchy within intimate relationships. This study used an exemplary sample to explore how religious, heterosexual married couples view and possibly practice gendered hierarchy. Interviews from 77 highly religious, highly satisfied couples provided insight into the following themes: (1) the potential harm of hierarchy, (2) misunderstanding hierarchy, (3) rejection of hierarchy, and (4) acceptance of hierarchy. For couples who expressed acceptance of hierarchy, further exploration revealed subthemes explaining how they conceptualized this practice. Subthemes included (4a) mutual submission, (4b) joint discussion, and …

"It Feels Like I Don't Exist": An Intersectional Feminist Analysis Of The Ace Citizen, Maya Wenzel

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Sexual citizenship is often used to enforce gender and sexual norms, to help construct the “Other,” and as a tool for national security. Because of the invisibility and invalidation of asexuality in the U.S., there is a lack of research on sexual citizenship discourses and a need for more research that utilizes intersectional feminism in asexuality studies. This master’s thesis uses an intersectional, transnational feminist, and queer lens to analyze how people who identify on the asexuality spectrum currently living in the U.S. are impacted by the concept of sexual citizenship. This research uses a qualitative survey, which 124 people, …

Socioeconomic Status And Physical Attractiveness In Partner Selection 32 Years Later: An Empirical Replication And Extension Of Townsend And Levy (1990), Elena Kelsey Henderson

Theses and Dissertations

Partnership is a universal part of human existence. Human partner selection has been long studied within evolutionary and sociocultural frameworks. One study by Townsend and Levy (1990) found that physical attractiveness and socioeconomic status influence male and female partner selection in distinct ways. The present study replicated and extended the work of Townsend and Levy, investigating how physical attractiveness, socioeconomic status, and race and ethnicity influence relationship willingness at various levels of involvement. A repeated measures ANOVA was conducted, and planned post hoc pairwise comparisons and parameter estimates were analyzed. We analyzed responses from 503 single American adults of four …

How And With Whom You Spend Your Time Matters: An Examination Of Familial Relationships, Leisure Activities, And Dementia Development, Erika Cooksey Mcdaniel

Theses and Dissertations

Dementia is an interminable disorder characterized by a decrease in cognitive functioning behavioral and emotional changes, and an overall diminishment in quality of life that usually affects the older population. In the coming decades, scientists estimate that the number of sufferers will reach over 100 million worldwide. Though there is currently no cure for any form of dementia, the theory of cognitive reserve posits certain lifestyle characteristics (i.e., educational attainment, SES, and/or career path) can mitigate the risk of dementia by improving cognitive resilience over an individual’s lifetime. The current study sought to discover what, if any, effects familial relationships, …

The Happiest Place On Earth: A Grounded Theory Of Fulfillment In Mixed-Orientation Marriages, Isadora Ferreira De Melo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mixed-orientation marriages (MOMs) are often misunderstood. There is a general cynicism in research literature and in the broader culture regarding the relational viability of same-sex attracted (SSA) individuals who marry someone of the opposite sex. However, there exist couples in MOMs that are resilient and attain satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to better understand how MOMs might become successful. By interviewing maritally satisfied mixed-orientation couples, the Model of Relational Self- Determination in Mixed-Orientation Marriages was developed. This model is separated into five stages that are organized around the experience of disclosure of the SSA spouse’s sexuality. Depending on …

Impact Of Family Expectations On The Marital Practices Of Haitian-American Couples, Kencia Mele

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This paper analyzes how family expectations from the Haitian culture manifest in the marriages of middle-aged Haitian-American couples. This study emphasizes that the evolution to biculturalism is a major factor in the adjustments of cultural expectations. Four middle-aged Haitian-American couples were interviewed via Zoom individually. They were asked to describe how they believed Haitian culture and family expectations influenced their family and marriage life. The results indicate that the middle-aged Haitian-American couples adhere to explicit and implicit family expectations set out by their families of origin; these expectations were influenced by Haitian culture. The major themes from the study were: …

How To Navigate Parkinson's Disease As A Couple, Lauren Garcia, Evie Telfer

Human Development and Family Science Student Work

On the wedding day, two partners lovingly say "I do" to being a faithful spouse "in sickness and in health." As you know, fulfilling those vows is easier said than done. Navigating Parkinson's Disease (PD) as a couple will engage all of those coping skills, lessons, and more learned from challenges you've faced already. If you or your spouse has been diagnosed with PD, consider these tips for maintaining a healthy and thriving marriage.

Experiences Of Maritally Satisfied Black American Couples Serving In Law Enforcement, Amanda Davis-Buie

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of maritally satisfied Black American couples when at least one partner is serving in law enforcement. Members of law enforcement, Black American couples, and members of the counseling profession can gain knowledge from the answering of the research question. A family strengths perspective was used to provide a framework to study the phenomenon of marital satisfaction from a positive perspective. Six Black American couples, who are satisfied in their marriage and employed in law enforcement for a period of a least 6 months during their marriage, participated …

A Middle Ground: The Gendered Division Of Housework In Heterosexual Mixed-Nativity Couples, Rebecca Rayner

MA Research Paper

Little is known about how couples in mixed-nativity marriages divide household labor compared to their peers in mixed-nativity cohabitations. Using data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata (IPUMS) files of the American Time Use Survey, this paper asks: (1) how does the division of housework for heterosexual mixed-nativity couples, both married and cohabiting, compare to that of their same-nativity counterparts? and (2) how does the gendered division of housework for heterosexual cohabiting mixed-nativity couples differ from that of married mixed- nativity couples? Findings indicate that mixed-nativity unions operate as a “middle ground” between same-nativity unions. When stratifying by marital status, …

Assessing The Power Of Policy: Deconstructing Declines In Child Marriage Around The World, Zackery Butler

Theses and Dissertations

Drawing on research from the fields sociology and demography, this dissertation endeavors to deconstruct the declines in Child, Early and Forced Marriage (CEFM) around the world by assessing the power of international institutions to create and enforce global norms across a wide range of nation-states. I conducted three different studies on CEFM at different levels to better understand how international policy, the cultural composition of countries, macro level demographic trends, and the relationships between national leadership and international governance have effected changes over the last few decades beginning in 1980. I used comparative historical methods in conjunction with demographic techniques …

I Have My Degree, Now I Want A Ring: The Link Between Educational Attainment And A Happy Marriage, Yalinel Beltre

Sociology Senior Seminar Papers

The research reported here used measures of educational attainment and happiness of marriage to assess how happy college educated women are in their marriages relative to their non college educated counterparts. A regression analysis of data from the 2018 General Social Survey American indicated that there is no link between marital happiness and degree attained based on gender. The greatest indicated likelihood of being in a happy marriage of the highest quality is among those who are white identifying people, net of the estimated effects of time since first marriage and several variables that might commonly affect marital happiness such …

Mitigating Negative Perceptions Due To Gender Norm Violation Through Adherence To Another Prevalent Gender Norm, Kelsey Drea

Master's Theses

In many cultures, the tradition of women adopting their husband’s surname is long-standing. This behavior became an established custom with English women around the 11^th and 12^th centuries (Embleton and King, 1984). In the United States, this practice was inherited from English common law, wherein a wife’s legal identity was considered tied to that of her husband’s. Despite the pervasiveness of such customs in naming conventions in Western cultures, recent social movements intended to foster greater parity between the sexes have led many women to defy this tradition and legally keep their own surname following marriage (MacClintock, 2010). …

Chinese Fathers' And Mothers' Views Of Their Daughters' Marriage And Fertility, Yiwei Xiong

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

China is dominated by collectivist culture, which means a person is independent only when building a complete family by getting married and having a baby. However, the phenomenon of late marriage shows a disparity from traditional norms. Chinese parents often serve as defenders of traditional norms and intervene in their children's love and marriage.

Lost In Translation: The Communication Differences Of Men And Women In Dating And Marriage Relationships, Jessica Daniell

Honors Theses

Communication between men and women may sometimes lead to confusion, frustration, misunderstanding, disagreement, or doubt. This is not because of the incompetency of one gender compared to the other, but in fact has much to do with the way in which males and females generally communicate and the reasons for why they do so. Communication styles develop beginning in infancy and are influenced by the interactions between the child and their parents and peers. Parents are highly instrumental to early childhood development; through both verbal and nonverbal communication with their children, they shape norms, values, and beliefs that are highly …

Five Love Languages: Assessment Of Marital Satisfaction In African American Couples, Freddricka C. Lee

LSU Master's Theses

This mixed-methods study examined marital satisfaction among five (n = 10) heterosexual, African American married couples. In particular, this study examined how acknowledging a partner’s love language (Chapman, 1995) can affect these couples’ level of marital satisfaction. The participants were native to the South and ranged from 26-55 years of age. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data revealed couples were satisfied with their marriages. Although only marginally significant, the findings also revealed acknowledging a spouse’s love language was positively related to higher levels of marital satisfaction. Seven themes emerged throughout the interviews, namely communication; financial stability; understand a spouse’s …

Stress, Coping, Social Support, And Marriage Satisfaction In Parents Of Children With Congenital Heart Defects, David Kropff

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Congenital Heart Defects (CHDs) are the most common type of birth defect in the United States. Children diagnosed with CHD require specialized intervention and a myriad of additional supports resulting in higher levels of stress for their parents. The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of parental stress (parental distress, parent-child dysfunctional interaction, difficult child, and total parental stress), parental support (spouse/parenting partner relationship), and parental coping (maintaining social support, maintaining family integration, and understanding the healthcare situation) on marriage satisfaction among parents with children who have a CHD. Minuchin’s structural family theory was used to guide …

Attitudes Of Marriage And Divorce In Adult Children Of Gray Divorce, Brittany M. Freeze

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Divorce over the age of 50 years is called gray divorce and has been steadily on the rise. Past studies have shown the impact divorce can have on children regarding attitudes toward marriage and divorce, but research has not investigated the attitudes of adult children whose parents divorce late in life. An intrinsic, single case study was done using eight participants who were adult children of gray divorce. Semi-structured interviews were completed, guided by the principles of social learning theory. Data were analyzed into codes, categories, and then into seven overarching themes using categorical aggregation. Six themes regarding the attitudes …

Unveiling Race And Japanese Identity Through Kokusai Kekkon, Manami Matsuoka

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Kokusai kekkon, marriage among Japanese and non-Japanese nationals, are common, yet sometimes it comes with difficulties. The study aims to uncover Japanese people’s hidden perceptions of gaikokujins, foreigners, and Japanese identity shaped in relation to gaikokujins based on race and ethnicity within cross-national marriage. 18 Japanese spouses of U.S. Americans were interviewed for the study. The study employed thematic analysis to disclose Japanese beliefs and worldviews through interpreting Japanese interviewees’ experiences and their families’ discourses regarding marriage with U.S. Americans. The study found that whiteness and the sense of inferiority to the West and superiority toward the East influence Japanese …

Benevolence Toward Men And Political Conservatism Among Married And Never-Married Women, Tara Goering

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Research indicates that sexism allows women to justify men’s privileged status; indeed, sexism has predicted women’s conservative vote choice (Cassese & Barnes, 2018). Benevolent attitudes toward men (BM) are based in beliefs about women and men’s interdependence (Glick & Fiske, 1999). Married women may experience greater interdependence and may desire to preserve beneficial structural power systems. The present research examined the relationship of BM to political conservatism among married and never-married women. Married and never-married women recruited from Prolific Academic completed a measure of political conservatism and the 10-item BM scale (Glick & Fiske, 1999). The results indicated that, as …

Impacts Of Mental Health First Aid On Mental Health Literacy And Stigma, Junseon Hwang

Student Theses

Mental Health First Aid has been developed to train the general public to give initial support to those in mental health crisis and development. The effectiveness of Mental Health First Aid has been questioned due to its relatively short history of the course. Mental Health First Aid was recently widely-disseminated in New York City as part of the ThriveNYC initiative. While most studies were supportive of the training, there has been no study that specifically examines New York residents. We recruited 328 New York residents who self-reported whether or not they have participated in Mental Health First Aid via Amazon …

Post-Birth Marriage, White-Hispanic Families, And Child Academic Achievement, Sadie Andrews Slighting

Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decade, policymakers have promoted marriage as a pathway to improve child outcomes in single-parent households. However, previous research on single mothers who later married in the United States has failed to examine how the structural advantages and disadvantages of race influence post-birth marriages and the advantage they may confer. I investigate how white advantage—the human- and social-capital benefits that come from being a white individual—acts as a resource distributed differently across three couple configurations. I predict that having access to white advantage via a white parent will improve child academic achievement. Using the US Early Childhood Longitudinal …

An Understanding Of Why: The Role Of Narrative Coherence As A Moderator In The Relation Between Interparental Conflict And Optimism Towards Marriage, Briana L. Schubert

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Essays On Institutions Governing Marriage And Outcomes Over The Life Cycle, Sounak Thakur

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I study how institutions that govern marriage can affect marital choices and economic decisionmaking within marriage. The institutions that I study encompass both formal institutions, like laws that govern family formation, or more informal ones, like customs mandating the amount and direction of transfers at marriage or the level of commitment within marriage. This thesis consists of three chapters, and each chapter tackles a specific research problem under the broad research agenda. In the first chapter of my thesis, I study how changes in divorce and property division laws affect the rates of marriage formation, marital sorting …

Love In South Korea: Transformations Of Intimacy And Gender Relations In Korean Romantic Relationships, Alex Joseph Nelson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Romantic love holds a central place in South Korean imaginaries, animating television dramas and pop ballads, but has been largely overlooked in Korea's ethnographic record. Drawing on data collected through 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork, survey research, interviews, and analysis of folklore, the present study investigates how South Koreans conceptualize romantic love, how those conceptions have changed over time, and the ways they are transforming with the Korean field of gender relations.

This study documents love's entwinement with marriage in South Korea. Koreans are developing companionate ideals of marriage that shift the focus of kinship from the parent-child relationship to …