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 …

Taking The Bang Out Of The Gang: The Impact Of Catholic Schools On Gang Homicides In El Salvador, Ann Jillian Villanueva Adona

Master's Theses

This study explores the impact of Catholic presence on homicide rates in El Salvador, specifically focusing on the role of Catholic schools in reducing violence in gang-afflicted municipalities. Analyzing municipality-level data from various years, I used Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Instrumental Variable (IV) regressions to study the association between school enrollment and homicide rates. Results show that higher enrollment in Catholic schools is linked to a reduction in homicide rates in gang-affected areas, contrasting with an increase in homicides for non-religious schools. This research sheds light on the importance of investing in Catholic education as a strategy for violence …

The Effects Of Affiliation, Proximity To Suicide, And Religiosity On Suicide Acceptance, Lindsey Gack

Master's Theses

As suicide becomes increasingly more prominent in the lives of people, research is being conducted to investigate causes, prevention, and even opinions on the topic. The impact of religious affiliation and religiosity on people’s acceptance of suicide was investigated in the current study. This was examined by using The Religious Commitment Inventory-10 (RCI-10; Worthington et al., 2003), the Semantic Differential Scale Attitudes Towards Suicidal Behavior (SEDAS; Jenner & Niesing, 2000), and the Proximity to Suicide Scale (PSS; self-constructed). Results indicated that a higher religiosity score was correlated with a more understanding viewpoint of an attempted/committed suicide. Results also showed that …

I Was Looking For God: A Study Of Wehrmacht Personnel And Their Personal Relationships With Religion, Christopher Bishop

Master's Theses

The Wehrmacht was Germany’s fighting force in the field during World War II. Its brutality and discriminatory practices rivaled that of the Nazi paramilitary and police units dispatched alongside them in newly conquered areas during this conflict. Coming from a society that was not at all unfamiliar with Christianity, some within the Wehrmacht related to Christianity in some form and attempted to use it to either justify actions or make sense of the world around them.

While considerable scholarship exists on the Nazi Party’s relationship to Christianity as a convenient propaganda tool for both soldier and civilian alike, the historiography …

Uncovering The Depression Treatment Gap: The Role Of Motivation To Change, God Image, And Religious Affiliation, Cyrus Chiasson

Master's Theses

Research analyzing factors that are indicative of treatment seeking for depression is warranted. In the United States, approximately 70% of individuals with depression do not receive treatment. The aim of the current study is to evaluate motivation to change, God image, and religious affiliation as predictors of current treatment engagement for depression. Motivation to change has previously been evaluated as a predictor of treatment outcome for depression but not as a predictor of current treatment engagement. Additionally, previous research indicates religious involvement is associated with less depressive symptomology but is in turn related to negative views towards mental health treatment …

Filling Pews, Speaking Truth: Pro-Life Ministry In A Liberal Catholic Parish, Jonathan Neidorf

Master's Theses

Scholars of the pro-life movement in the United States have extensively documented how pro-lifers in this country feel that their cause is embattled by society (Williams and Blackburn 1996; Maxwell 2002; Munson 2008). Other research argues that conservative Catholics tend to feel that their Church is swept up in an increasing liberalization in greater society, which serves to compromise core moral tenets of the faith (Leege 1988; Weaver and Appleby 1995; Wedam 1993). No thorough research exists examining how pro-life Catholics see their Church's and their parish's liberalism as directly suppressing their pro-life work. In this ethnographic study of a …

The Captivity Of Opportunity: The Conversation Surrounding Church-Going Hispanic Immigrants, Nicolet Hopper Bell

Master's Theses

Immigration is a long-standing topic of discussion in the United States. Hispanic immigrants, or families of Hispanic immigrants, living in America face unique challenges. Through focus group interviews, participants from a predominantly Hispanic Protestant church narrated their experience of living in the United States. Guided grounded theory data analysis revealed three categories and 14 subcategories, or themes of conversation, surrounding this hot topic. Participants shed light on the distinctive challenges they faced, how these challenges affected them, and how they attempted to overcome these difficulties. By exploring these results through the lens of social stigma theory (Goffman, 2009) and intergroup …

Social Maintenance Of Oppressive Structures, Stephen Gabourel

Master's Theses

This study intends to explore the ways in which religiously based parenting may serve as a vehicle for shaping personal attitudes about sexuality. As a result of their belief systems, increasingly religious parents are likely to adopt different parenting strategies than non-religious parents.

When a combination of authoritarian values and a particular adherence to conservative theology characterizes parenting, this may be responsible for the construction of distinct mindsets in young individuals. Parents that score high in fundamentalism and authoritarianism could exhibit a greater chance of raising children with beliefs similar to their own.

Through use of quantitative measures, this study …

The Effects Of Candidate Religiosity And Candidate Secularism On Voters' Support For The Political Candidate, Nathanael Gratias Sumaktoyo

Master's Theses

This study examines the effects of candidate religiosity, candidate secularism, and voter fundamentalism on voters' support for a political candidate. Seven effects were tested: 1) the religiosity effect, which suggests that a religious candidate will be supported more than a nonreligious candidate; 2) the secularism effect, which suggests that a secular candidate will be supported more than a nonsecular candidate; 3) the JFK effect, which suggests that a secular religious candidate will be supported more than a nonsecular religious candidate; 4) the deviant effect--an opposite of the JFK effect--, which suggests that a secular religious candidate constitutes a group deviant, …

The Psychology Of Conversion, James Roy Smith

Master's Theses

The present study of conversion is approached through the medium of psychology, which, like the Christian religion, is extremely interested in human beings. Christianity owes to psychology a great debt of gratitude for the light which it has thrown upon the vast recesses of the human mind and upon the possibilities in the personality which Christianity would convert.

There has been no hesitation to employ whatever information psychology may offer concerning the processes at work in conversion,together with any technique which might serve to increase its likelihood. It is not the purpose of this thesis to champion the cause of …