Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An Experimental Test Of The Effects Of Survey Sponsorship On Internet And Mail Survey Response, Michelle L. Edwards, Don A. Dillman, Jolene D. Smyth

Bureau of Sociological Research: Faculty Publications

Survey researchers have typically assumed that university sponsorship consistently increases response rates and reduces nonresponse error across different populations, but they have not tested the effects of utilizing different university sponsors to collect data from the same population. In addition, scholars have not examined how these effects differ for mixed-mode (web and mail) or mail-only data collection. To explore these questions, we conducted an experiment in spring 2012 with an address-based sample of residents from two states (Washington and Nebraska), using two university sponsors (Washington State University and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln) and two modes (a sequential “web-push” design versus …

The Importance Of Motherhood Among Women In The Contemporary United States, Julia Mcquillan, Arthur L. Greil, Karina M. Scheffler, Veronica Tichenor

Bureau of Sociological Research: Faculty Publications

We contribute to feminist and gender scholarship on cultural notions of motherhood by analyzing the importance of motherhood among mothers and non-mothers. Using a national probability sample (N = 2,519) of U.S. women ages 25-45, we find a continuous distribution of scores measuring perceptions of the importance of motherhood among both groups. Employing OLS multiple regression, we examine why some women place more importance on motherhood, focusing on interests that could compete with valuing motherhood (e.g., education, work success, leisure), and controlling for characteristics associated with becoming a mother. Contrary to cultural schemas that view mother and worker identities as …

Occupational Racial Composition And Nonfatal Work Injuries, Terceira A. Berdahl, Julia Mcquillan

Bureau of Sociological Research: Faculty Publications

Is there an association between occupational racial composition and nonfatal workplace injuries? Guided by several labor market theories (queuing, social closure, devaluation, poor market position, and human capital), we use occupational data from the U.S. Census and Dictionary of Occupational Titles combined with individual data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to answer this question. Hierarchical generalized linear models of individuals within occupations show that there is an association between occupational racial composition and workplace injuries, but this association is only statistically significant for white men in the model controlling for relevant occupational and individual level characteristics. A 10 …

Infertility And Life Satisfaction Among Women, Julia Mcquillan, Roselie Torres Stone, Arthur L. Greil

Bureau of Sociological Research: Faculty Publications

Using data from a random sample of 580 midwestern women, the authors explore the association between lifetime infertility and life satisfaction. Past research shows lower life satisfaction among those seeking help for infertility. The authors find no direct effects of lifetime infertility, regardless of perception of a problem, on life satisfaction; however, there are several conditional effects. Among women who have ever met the criteria for infertility and perceive a fertility problem, life satisfaction is significantly lower for non-mothers and those with higher internal medical locus of control, and the association is weaker for employed women. For women with infertility …

Beyond Hispanic/Latino: The Importance Of Gender/Ethnicity-Specific Earnings Analyses, Rosalie Torres Stone, Julia Mcquillan

Bureau of Sociological Research: Faculty Publications

The effect of economic change on the Latino to non-Latino White earnings gap has been well documented; however much of this research has focused on Latinos as a general category with little focus on subgroup variations. Despite varied histories and demographic characteristics Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and Cubans, the largest Hispanic subgroups, have usually been combined in analyses of earnings gaps. Consequently, we know little about differential effects of the “new economy” on earnings by subgroup across labor markets. Using a sample consisting of Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and non-Hispanic Whites residing in 106 metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) from the 2000 …

Psychological Distress By Type Of Fertility Barrier, Mary Casey Jacob, Julia Mcquillan, A. L. Greil

Bureau of Sociological Research: Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: We examined fertility-specific distress (FSD) and general distress by type of fertility barrier (FB).
METHODS: In a random sample telephone survey, 580 US women reported their fertility intentions and histories. Six groups of women were identified: (i) no FBs, (ii) infertile with intent, (iii) infertile without intent, (iv) other fertility problems, (v) miscarriages and (vi) situational barriers. Multiple regression analyses were used to compare groups with FBs.
RESULTS: Sixty-one percent reported FBs and 28% reported an inability to conceive for at least 12 months. The infertile with intent group had the highest FSD, which was largely explained by (a) …

No Longer Intending: The Relationship Between Relinquished Fertility Intentions And Distress, Lynn K. White, Julia Mcquillan

Bureau of Sociological Research: Faculty Publications

We use data from both waves of the National Survey of Families and Households to assess whether relinquishing a serious intention to have (more) children leads to greater increases in depressive symptoms than continuing confidence in childbearing intentions. Our sample includes 2,200 individuals of childbearing age, men and women, all parities, and all marital statuses. Change score analysis shows that individuals who relinquished a serious intent to have children had elevated distress at Time 2 and that the association is conditioned by gender, health, and education. We find that fertility potential can be important to psychosocial well-being and that closing …

Infertility: Testing A Helpseeking Model, Lynn K. White, Julia Mcquillan, Arthur L. Greil, David R. Johnson

Bureau of Sociological Research: Faculty Publications

This paper uses data from a study of 196 infertile women from the Midwestern US to examine a general theory of help-seeking behavior applied to infertility. All of these women report meeting the medical definition of infertility—12 months or more of regular intercourse without conception—at some point in their lives. Only 35 percent of this sample of infertile women identified themselves as having had fertility problems and only 40 percent had sought medical treatment.

Drawing on prior theories of help-seeking, we examine the effects of symptom salience, life course cues, attitudes, predisposing factors, and enabling conditions on help-seeking. We posit …

“I Just Want To Play”: Women, Sexism, And Persistence In Golf, Lee Mcginnis, Julia Mcquillan, Constance L. Chapple

Bureau of Sociological Research: Faculty Publications

Golf does not inherently privilege men or women physically, yet men are much more likely to participate in golf. The authors explore the institutional (e.g., societal level) and interactional barriers to women’s golf participation and uncover strategies women use to negotiate playing and persisting in golf. Guided by research on tokenism in occupations, statistical discrimination, and feminist research in the sociology of sport, the authors use 10 interviews with recreational women golfers to explore these issues. Similar to women in predominantly male occupations, the women in this study report heightened visibility and experiences with typecasting on the golf course. In …

Gender, Social Bonds, And Delinquency: A Comparison Of Boys’ And Girls’ Models, Julia Mcquillan, Terceira A. Berdahl, Constance L. Chapple

Bureau of Sociological Research: Faculty Publications

Past research has assessed gender differences in delinquency due to differential social controls, yet important questions remain regarding gender and social bonding. As much of this work was premised on Hirschi’s measurement of the social bond, we examine whether gender moderates two parts of the social bond: the measurement of the social bond and structural differences between the social bond and delinquency. Using multiple-group structural equation modeling, we find that neither the measures of the social bond nor their relationships with property crime are gender-specific. The structural relationship between the elements of the social bond and violent delinquency differs slightly …

Help-Seeking Patterns Among Subfecund Women, Arthur L. Greil, Julia Mcquillan

Bureau of Sociological Research: Faculty Publications

A random sample of women in the midwestern United States was studied in order to provide a fuller picture of the ways in which US women responded to subfecundity. Using a biomedical definition of infertility, we examined women who did not conceive within 12 months of unprotected intercourse whether they were trying to get pregnant or not. Of the 196 ever-subfecund women in our sample, 123 experienced subfecundity while trying to get pregnant; we called these “subfecund with intent.” Another 73 women experienced subfecundity while not actively trying to get pregnant; we called these “subfecund without intent.” Of the 196 …

Chronic Strain, Daily Work Stress, And Pain Among Workers With Rheumatoid Arthritis: Does Job Stress Make A Bad Day Worse?, Judith Fifield, Julia Mcquillan, Stephen Armeli, Howard Tennen, Susan Reisine, Glenn Affleck

Bureau of Sociological Research: Faculty Publications

The structure of the job and the daily experience of work are challenges for workers with rheumatoid arthritis. Yet little is known about how these two factors interact to put workers with chronic pain at risk for worse pain on a given day. This exploratory 20 workday diary study of 27 workers with rheumatoid arthritis used hierarchical linear modeling to examine how the structure of the job and neuroticism moderate the relationship between daily undesirable work events (daily stressors), and pain reports within a day. On days with more undesirable work events compared to days with fewer events, individuals with …

Frustrated Fertility: Infertility And Psychological Distress Among Women, Julia Mcquillan, Arthur L. Greil, Lynn K. White, Mary Casey Jacob

Bureau of Sociological Research: Faculty Publications

Using a random sample of 580 Midwestern women, we test the hypothesis that women who have experienced infertility report higher psychological distress. Approximately one third of our sample reports having experienced infertility sometime in their lives, although the majority of the infertile now have biological children. Drawing hypotheses from identity and stress theories, we examine whether roles or resources condition the effects of infertility or whether its effects are limited to childless women. Infertility combined with involuntary childlessness (including biological and social) is associated with significantly greater distress. For women in this category, the risk of distress is substantial.

A Comparison Of Self-Reports Of Distress And Affective Disorder Diagnoses In Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Receiver Operator Characteristic Analysis, Julia Mcquillan, Judith Fifield, T. Joseph Sheehan, Susan Reisine, Howard Tennen, Victor Hesselbrock, Naomi Rothfield

Bureau of Sociological Research: Faculty Publications

Objective—To compare 3 commonly used psychiatric symptom checklists (the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale [CES-D], the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and the Endler Multidimensional Anxiety Scales [EMAS] to determine their sensitivity, specificity, and ability to discriminate between a disorder (Major Depression [MD], Generalized Anxiety Disorder [GAD], and no disorder. To compare the checklists for their ability to discriminate between type of disorder (MD and GAD). To evaluate the discriminant ability of the subscales, particularly positive affect; whether the somatic items in the CES-D artificially inflate affective scores; and the optimal cut off score for the CES-D.

Methods—We compared …

A Review Of Gendered Consumption In Sport And Leisure, Lee Mcginnis, Seungwoo Chun, Julia Mcquillan

Bureau of Sociological Research: Faculty Publications

In this review, we examine literature from leisure sciences, sociology, marketing, and history to demonstrate how Firat’s (1994) modern significations of gender categories can be used as an effective lens for showing the lingering effects of modernism. In the process, we provide evidence in a sport and leisure context of what is associated with men and masculinity is valued over what is associated with women and femininity.

In the postmodern era, which many Western cultures are now beginning to experience, the categories of sex and gender are beginning to collapse and multiple categories of gender are arising. This transformation, according …

Book Review: Weaving Work And Motherhood By Anita Ilta Garey, Julia Mcquillan

Bureau of Sociological Research: Faculty Publications

Weaving Work and Motherhood is an engaging challenge to conventional “orientation” approaches to work or motherhood, offering instead the metaphor of weaving. Beginning with the experiences of 37 mothers employed at a hospital, Anita Ilta Garey’s goal is to understand “what it means to be a worker with children and a mother at work.”

Garey favors the metaphor of weaving as a way to “step back and view the whole, to think of the fabric of a life, the strength of the weave, and the intricacy of design. It reminds us not to get lost in the close examination …

History Of Affective Disorder And The Temporal Trajectory Of Fatigue In Rheumatoid Arthritis, Judith Fifield Ph.D., Julia Mcquillan, Howard Tennen, T. Joseph Sheehan, Susan Reisine, Victor Hesselbrock, Naomi Rothfield

Bureau of Sociological Research: Faculty Publications

This study examines whether the general level and rate of change of fatigue over time is different for those rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with and those without a history of affective disorder (AD). Four hundred fifteen RA patients from a national panel had yearly telephone interviews to obtain fatigue and distress reports, and a one-time semistructured assessment of the history of depression and generalized anxiety disorder. Growth-curve analysis was used to capture variations in initial fatigue levels and changes in fatigue over 7 years for those with and without a history. RA patients with a history of major AD reported …

Depression And The Long-Term Risk Of Pain, Fatigue, And Disability In Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis, Judith Fifield, Howard Tennen, Susan Reisine, Julia Mcquillan

Bureau of Sociological Research: Faculty Publications

Objective. To determine whether a previous episode of major depression leaves a “scar” that places previously depressed patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) at risk for experiencing high levels of pain, fatigue, and disability.

Methods. A cohort of 203 patients with RA was randomly selected from a national panel and interviewed by phone about pain, fatigue, depressive symptoms, disability, and history of major depression.

Results. Excluding patients who met the criteria for current major depression, patients with both a history of depression and many depressive symptoms at the time of the interview (dysphoria) reported more pain than those without current dysphoria, …

Gender, Paid Work, And Symptoms Of Emotional Distress In Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients, Judith Fifield, Susan Reisine, T. Joseph Sheehan, Julia Mcquillan

Bureau of Sociological Research: Faculty Publications

Objective. To evaluate the relative contribution of gender-related work conditions, gender-related socialization practices, and disease characteristics to the explanation of emotional distress in men and women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods. Three hundred sixty-nine RA patients who were employed outside the home were recruited from a national randomized sample of rheumatology practices. Data on paid work and disease characteristics were obtained by telephone interview. Emotional distress was measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. Hierarchical ordinary least-squares regression was used to assess the relationship of sex, class, work characteristics, and disease characteristics to both the CES-D summary …