Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Examining The Mechanisms Of Religious Ecology On Population Health And Material Well-Being, Joseph Andrew Clark

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A growing body of research has addressed the relationship between community-level religious environments and important aspects of well-being, such as mortality, crime, and social mobility. This research argues that the prevalence of specific religious traditions shapes these important outcomes through a variety of mechanisms. While there is no shortage of mechanisms proposed by authors - such as local attitudes towards public institutions, gender norms, and social networks - these mechanisms remain themselves untested. A notable critique of this literature suggests that without evidence supporting the existence of these mechanisms as described, scholars involved in this research run the risk of …

The Religious Impact: Understanding The Influence Of Religiosity On Attitudes Toward Policy Issues, Angela Farizo Mccarthy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to shed light on the influence of religion on Americans’ attitudes toward policy concerns. How do denominational affiliation, religious participation, and religious beliefs influence one’s views on social and/or economic policies? I consider the impact of religious belonging, religious behaving, and religious believing—also known as the “3B’s” – on public opinion toward contemporary issues in the United States. In this comprehensive analysis, I discover the importance of including the religious dimensions in models of public policy attitudes. The first part of this project is to outline the current state of the literature and present …

Religion, Racism, And Ecological Stress Among African-American Families: A Qualitative Analysis Of Perceptions And Coping Strategies, Johnnie W. Jones

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Americans do not reside in what many consider now a Post-Racial society. A remarkable number of researchers found that African Americans are more likely than any other racial group to experience racism, manifested by racist attitudes and practices, which negatively affect their physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing (health). Very importantly, numerous scholarly works have examined racism and Black women qualitatively. Unfortunately, less has been known about the personal processes and meaning-making mechanisms of Black married couples and African American males in terms of how they cope with racism, and ecological stress. To address this gap, this study uses qualitative …

Familial Relationships Among Muslim Couples And Parents In The United States: A Qualitative Study, Zahra Aqeel Alghafli

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Since September 11, 2001, Islam has been the center of many debates, discussions, parodies, and publications. Many Muslims feel that their religion has been portrayed unfairly in Western media. The topics that seem to generate the most criticism relate to gender roles and the treatment of women, both inside the home and in society. The purpose of this project is to employ a qualitative, in-depth interview approach to examine the perceived role of Islam on marital and familial relationships from insiders’ perspectives and to present participants’ reflections on sensitive issues, including gender roles, women’s rights, the concept of Hijab, religious …

Burn, Boil & Eat : An Intersection Analysis Of Stereotypes In The Most Influential Films Of All Time, Roslyn M. Satchel

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research builds upon the work of Entman & Rojecki (2001) in examining the ways the most influential movies use racial stereotypes in media frames. The results of this study contribute to the rather limited mass media research and body of knowledge regarding the media content that attracts the largest and most enduring audiences in the new media landscape. As ten of the films that have generated the most revenue, the movies in this sample constitute a genre of movies that are also a prime feature of on-going publishing, cable, internet, digital gaming, DVD, and movie sequel franchises. If, as …

Reinhold Niebuhr's Ethics Of Rhetoric, Joseph E. Rhodes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the writings of the American public intellectual and theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971). My project is a unique contribution to Niebuhrian studies in that I approach these works from the perspective of a rhetorical theorist. My intention is to parse from Niebuhr’s editorial commentaries, his philosophical inquiries and lectures, his theological treatises, and his sermonic essays an specifically “Niebuhrian ethics of rhetoric.” In order to accomplish this task I investigate the rhetorical situation Niebuhr was embedded in and to which he was responding to at the turn of the twentieth century. Part of the analysis of his rhetorical …

Impact Of Religion And Religious Differences On Political And Economic Cooperation Between Countries, Betul Dicle

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Studies on economic and political cooperation of countries generally focus on the effects of factors such as geographical proximity, political regime type, and the different fiscal and monetary policies, among others. The impact of religious affiliation, however, stayed mainly as theory. The clash between and/or within religions had important proponents. We provide evidence that religion can have economic union effects. We evaluate whether there is historic economic polarization and whether religions have group dynamics similar to economic unions. Economic convergence, causation and trade cooperation are commonly reported for economic unions. Do these effects exist for countries with the same religion? …

An Investigation Of The Relationship Between Religion And Marriage On Self-Reported Health, Patrick Joseph Graham, Jr

LSU Master's Theses

A significant body of literature has focused on the effects of religion on health and marriage on health, as well as on religion and marriage. However, there is limited research on the effects of religion and marriage on self-reported health. Using the first and only wave of the Panel Study of American Religion and Ethnicity, ordinary least square regression models are compared to investigate the causal effects of religion and marriage on self-reported health. In the analysis, it is found that religion and marriage, as forms of social support, individually have significant affects on self-reported health as the literature indicates …

Old Europe Versus New Europe: Cultural Similarity Tolerance, Religion And Anti-Americanism In A Divided European Union, Madalina Cristina Hanes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research focuses on anti-Americanism in Europe. Old Europe, including countries like France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium, is significantly more anti-American than New Europe, which includes countries such as Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary. In this project, however, I have made a number of observations that go beyond than this simple conclusion. I examined factors that could be behind these different levels of anti-Americanism in Old Europe and New Europe, and one key answer that emerged was “cultural similarity.” There are, of course, other factors that impact attitudes towards the United States and Americans, such as the …

Evaluating Different Health Communicatioin Theories To Deter College Binge Drinking: A Look At Promising Directions For Future Research, Kristen Meyer Sunde

LSU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

For more than 30 years, college administrators and health communicators have used binge drinking prevention campaigns on university campuses to deter students from this dangerous and life-threatening habit.

Despite the prevalence of such campaigns (Wechsler, Seibring, Liu & Ahl, 2004), binge drinking remains the top public health threat for this population (Wechsler, Dowdall, Davenport, & Castillo, 1995).

In this study, the researcher conducted an experiment using fear appeals to see if these messages were more effective than social norms messages, which are often used in college binge drinking prevention campaigns (Real & Rimal, 2007), at prompting higher message credibility …

A Qualitative Exploration Of Christian, Native American Families, Mandy Lynn Swanson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Research on Native American families is limited and emphasizes the deficits of families and overlooks those Native American families that are thriving. This study seeks to illuminate the strengths of highly religious, Christian, Native American, married couples. The study employs a strengths-based perspective to examine how and why religious coping is meaningful and influential for these Native American couples’ enduring marriages and in their efforts to be responsive parents. From interviews of fifteen heterosexual, Native American, married couples (n=30), five themes emerged from the coding and analysis: 1) Faith and Culture: “They go hand in hand”, 2) Influence of Faith …

The Culture Of Conservative Protestantism And Income Inequality: A Multilevel Analysis, Skylar Craig Gremillion

LSU Master's Theses

Despite major advances in equality of rights, women still earn less money than men. Social science researchers see sex-based income inequality as an issue of discrimination. While the problem has been identified, its causes are a matter of debate. In this study I offer one possible influence on this discrimination. I theorize that conservative Protestant culture has a strong effect on local norms and business practices. Those norms are a part of the institutional environment, and manifest themselves as allocative and valuative discrimination, keeping women out of high paying jobs or paying women in high skilled jobs less than men …

Assessing The Influence Of Religion On Health Behavior, David B. Creel

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A primary aim of this study was to confirm the factor structure of the Health and Religious Congruency Scale (HARCS), a measure previously developed by the same research team. The HARCS questions directly link religious beliefs/activities to health behaviors. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that the current data fit poorly to the factor structure found in the pilot study. Because the current sample was more religiously diverse than the pilot study sample, and could potentially provide a factor structure that better reflects the views of individuals from different religious affiliations, a principal components analysis was conducted on the current data. …

Logging-On To Sai Baba: The Poetics Of Sacred Globalization, Meredith Morgan Feike

LSU Master's Theses

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba is the leader of a progressive religious movement steeped in the Hindu tradition. The Sathya Sai Baba Organization claims to have over thirty million members in approximately 170 countries. The dedicated followers of the movement believe Sai Baba to be an avatar or incarnation of God in human form. Sai Baba utilizes the Internet to transmit his universalistic philosophies around the world. With this digital universe, devotees can log-on to a multitude of official Sai websites that act as training ground for achieving liberation of the mind and soul. This path of devotion that Sai …

Evangelicals And The Republican Party: A Reinforcing Relationship For Israel, John Charles Tadayeski

LSU Master's Theses

In examining one’s level of religious involvement and orthodoxy of worship, several authors have found significant correlations between levels of these variables and an attachment to political parties, particularly the Republican Party (Layman, 1997). My analysis of a 2002 ABC News/Washington Post poll (ICPSR, 2002) finds that the same mechanism that is indicative of partisanship also influences and reinforces evangelicals’ sympathies toward Israel. While the Republican and Evangelical variables are statistically significant with respect to an elevated level of sympathy toward Israel, the interaction effect of these two variables is the most noteworthy product of this analysis. When subjects respond …

Performance As Ministry: An Ethnographic Study Of Three Christian Repertory Theatre Troupes, Webster Ford Drake

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This work seeks to define, explain, and place into historical and social context the phenomena of Christian Repertory Theater (CRT). It does so by examining three CRT troupes: Acts 2 from Nashville, TN, sponsored by Two Rivers Baptist Church; The Company from Fort Worth, TX, sponsored by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; and Gen X from Clinton, MS, which operated independent of external support . Ethnographic fieldwork was the primary vehicle of information-gathering in this case study analysis. The author experienced each group as either a participant-observer, observer, and/or interviewer. CRT was ultimately defined as an activity wherein a constituted group …

Being Otherworldly In The World: Michael Oakeshott On Religion, Aesthetics And Politics, Elizabeth Campbell Corey

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is a study of the thought of Michael Oakeshott with particular emphasis on his writings about the character of religion and aesthetics. The dissertation as a whole makes the case that a certain moral vision-one informed by religious and aesthetic considerations-lies at the center of Oakeshott's thought and informs his political philosophy. The dissertation begins as an examination of Oakeshott's debts to St. Augustine and to British Idealist thinkers such as F. H. Bradley, and moves to a study of Oakeshott's own views on religion and aesthetics. It turns next to a consideration of Oakeshott's two essays entitled …

Musical Play Across Ethnic Boundaries In Western Jamaica, Ronald Eric Dickerson

LSU Master's Theses

An ethnography of music, ritual, and festival in western Jamaica, this thesis reports on fieldwork performed in St. Elizabeth and St. James Parishes between June 2002 and January 2003. Featured field sites include rural dancehall events, Kumina performances, Accompong Town's Maroon Heritage Festival, and a Rastafarian music and nutrition festival called "The Supper of Rastafari." Building an account of these and other sites of cultural performance, this study focuses on social connections between groups of participants, traced through poetic, historical, and personal relationships among performers, especially across boundaries of ethnic, stylistic, or religious difference within Jamaica's national cultural identity.

No Place To Die: The Poetics Of Roadside Sacred Places In Mexico, Daniel Raymond Weir

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Roadside death memorials are a response to the sudden, tragic death of a loved one; and are appearing with increasing regularity in developed and developing countries across the globe. In Mexico, however, wayside memorials and shrines of religiosity are a centuries-old tradition. This work, an effort to understand why the exact location of a person’s death is so important that a sacred place must be created where no place is intended, is basic and exploratory research. A multi-method, and cross-disciplinary case study, based upon the author’s fieldwork in Mexico, produces massive data and constitutes a robust explanatory triangulation. A geographic …