Sociology Commons^™

Transforming Transportation In The City Of Norfolk, Liam Downes, Valeria Facio Lom, Madison Zucco

Environmental Engagement in the Community (ENVR 319): Student Projects

Environmental Engagement in the Community projects, fall 2021

Poster titled Transforming Transportation in the City of Norfolk with the clients ICLEI and the City of Norfolk, Nebraska.

Exploration Of Lived Experiences Of Science Teachers Of English Language Learners: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study, Uma Ganesan

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

English language learners (ELLs) are a talented pool of culturally and linguistically diverse students who are persistently increasing both in absolute size and percentage in the U.S. school population; however, they are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in college as well as in the workforce (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2018). Education and scientific communities have found it challenging to improve students’ participation in STEM fields (Martinez et al., 2011). Exploring science teachers’ experiences could aid in improving academic achievement of ELLs and promoting educational equity. The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study is …

Water Quality Club, Haley Farr, Megan Pfeifer, Michaela Neal

Environmental Engagement in the Community (ENVR 319): Student Projects

Environmental Engagement in the Community Projects, fall 2021

Poster titled Water Quality Club for client Beyond School Bells.

Reduction Of Co2 Emissions In Grand Island, Awinita Bunner, Alexus Hansen, Brianna Ryan

Environmental Engagement in the Community (ENVR 319): Student Projects

Environmental Engagement in the Community projects, fall 2021

A poster titled Reduction of CO₂ Emissions in Grand Island for clients ICLEI and the City of Grand Island, Nebraska.

Platte Basin Timelapse Engagement In School Of Natural Resources, Emma Hastings, Ethan Lang, Jake Duffy

Environmental Engagement in the Community (ENVR 319): Student Projects

Environmental Engagement in the Community projects, fall 2021

A poster titled Platte Basin Timelapse Engagement in School of Natural Resources for client Brooke Talbott.

Emissions Education: Grand Island & Norfolk, Kate Brashear, Jadon Basilevac, Jonah Mcdowell

Environmental Engagement in the Community (ENVR 319): Student Projects

Environmental Engagement in the Community projects, fall 2021

A poster titled Emissions Education: Grand Island & Norfolk for clients ICLEI and Conservation Nebraska.

Creating Pollinator Rest Stops For Monarch Butterflies, Andrew Baker, Matthew Holte, Noah Johnson

Environmental Engagement in the Community (ENVR 319): Student Projects

Environmental Engagement in the Community project, fall 2021

A poster titled Creating Pollinator Rest Stops For Monarch Butterflies for client Lincoln Electric System (Melissa Landis).

Beyond School Bells With Dakota Staggs, Michaela Neal, Megan Pfeifer, Haley Farr

Environmental Engagement in the Community (ENVR 319): Student Projects

Environmental Engagement in the Community Projects, fall 2021

A presentation titled Beyond School Bells with Dakota Staggs.

Problem/challenge statement:

How can we effectively teach students about water quality?

• Create lesson plans that are fun and engaging

• Special focus on AltEn plant in Mead, Nebraska

Why is this issue important?

• AltEn is close to home, shows students how water pollution can cripple a community

Phlc Environmental Education Improvement Project, Quinn Kimball, Rachel Summers, Liam Doherty-Herwitz

Environmental Engagement in the Community (ENVR 319): Student Projects

Environmental Engagement in the Community projects, fall 2021

A poster titled PHLC Environmental Education Improvement Project for client Prairie Hill Learning Center (Hunter Armstrong).

Improving The Southern Heights Food Forest, Shawnna Lofland, Anne Kluthe, Favian Mendez

Environmental Engagement in the Community (ENVR 319): Student Projects

Environmental Engagement in the Community projects, fall 2021

A poster titled Improving the Southern Heights Food Forest for client Southern Heights Food Forest.

Reforming United States Prisons: A Cross-Cultural Analysis, Alex Henkel

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This paper examines the United States prison system and its standing among peer countries, as well as potential reforms to improve this system and its effectiveness. The incarceration statistics of many different countries show that the United States incarcerates significantly more of its population than similar countries. I turn to an examination of how penal policies are formed across the world to evaluate their impact on the U.S. prison rate compared to other countries. Additionally, I look at recidivism to determine the effectiveness of United States incarceration. This analysis aims to highlight the differences between the U.S. and other countries …

Readiness For Change, Charlotte Narjes, Marilyn R. Schlake

Cornhusker Economics

One community is innovative in addressing long-term issues and situations related to quality of life, economic impact, and demographic renewal. Another community is not. What is the difference? What can communities do to be ready for change? What role can Extension play in helping a community address complex situations such as identifying new leaders, being competitive in a digital economy, creating healthy communities, or attracting new populations and retaining exciting community members? One key to success is assessing community readiness for change.

Associations Between Community Built Environments With Early Care And Education Classroom Physical Activity Practices And Barriers, Bethany D. Williams, Susan B. Sisson, Dipti Dev, Bryce Lowery, Diane Horm, Janis Campbell, Denise Finneran, Jennifer Graef-Downard, Linda Whaley

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

The influence of community-built environments on physical activity (PA) support in Early Childhood Education settings (ECEs) is unknown. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine associations between community PA environments and ECE classroom PA practices. We included licensed Oklahoma ECE directors serving 3-to-5-year-old children. Parks and playground locations were exported from Google Earth. NationalWalkability Index was derived from 2010 US Census data. ArcMap 10.6 was used to geocode ECE locations, which were within an Activity Desert if no parks/playgrounds were located within a 1-mile radius or if Walkability Index was 10.5 or below. Classroom PA practices were determined …

Examining Correlates Of Feeding Practices Among Parents Of Preschoolers, Deepa Srivastava, Lucy R. Zheng, Dipti Dev

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Background: Parent feeding practices play a critical role in children’s eating behaviors. Limited research has explored child-level correlates of parent feeding practices.

Aim: To identify correlates of feeding practices (responsive and controlling) among parents of preschoolers in the United States.

Methods: Participants included parents (n = 273) of preschoolers (3–5 years), recruited from early care and education settings (n = 24) located in a metropolitan city in the US. Analysis included descriptives, correlations, and multiple regression.

Results: For responsive feeding practices, positive associations included child’s weight with unintentional modeling (β = .17, 95% CI [0.12, 0.53]), child vegetable …

Toward A Gender-Responsive, Participatory Community-Based Child Protection System – Lessons From Victim-Survivors And Service Providers Of A Safe Home And A Community In The Philippines, Gundelina Velazco

Human Trafficking: Data and Documents

This research project gathered from victims, survivors and community people their experience and knowledge of sexual exploitation and trafficking of children, their perception of circumstances that lead to exploitation, as well as measures that can stop it. From their responses, the aim was to formulate a framework of a gender responsive, participatory community-based child protection system, test this framework, and formulate a position statement based on the findings and lessons learned.

A survey instrument with content, age, and gender validation and a communityvalidated checklist of indicators of being sexually exploited, were the tools used to gather data from victims and …

Perceptions Of Future Community And Individual Well-Being In Rural Nebraska, Amanda L. Kowalewski

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Populations of rural areas continue to decline, yet some communities are more vibrant than ever. While past research has studied current satisfaction or well-being, few have examined future well-being. Using an ordinal logistic regression and combining primary and secondary data sources, this study investigates the predictors of rural Nebraskan’s sense of future well-being, both at the community and individual levels. The model indicates that resilience may be more important in well-being than social capital. Additionally, certain satisfaction indicators are more important than others. Factor analysis was employed to re-index variables, and findings were similar. Social capital, resilience, and quality of …

Childhood Disadvantage, Social And Psychological Stress, And Substance Use Among Homeless Youth: A Life Stress Framework, Kimberly A. Tyler, Rachel M. Schmitz

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

We used a life stress framework to examine linkages between distal or primary stressors (e.g., child abuse) and proximal or secondary stressors (e.g., street victimization) and their association with substance use among 150 youth experiencing homelessness in the Midwestern United States. Results revealed that numerous primary stressors such as number of times youth ran from home and number of foster care placements were associated with secondary stressors, such as anxiety, total duration of homelessness, and street victimization. Only street physical victimization (e.g., been beaten up since leaving home) was associated with greater substance use. Our findings provide a more holistic …

Privacy, Confidentiality And Anonymity: Understandings From People Who Inject Drugs Enrolled In A Study Of Social Networks And Hiv Risk., Roberto Abadie, Celia Fisher, Kirk Dombrowski

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Nebraska Child Care Market Rate Survey Report 2021, Greg W. Welch, Elizabeth Svoboda, Alexandra Daro, Venessa Bryant, Caitlyn Glissmeyer

Buffet Early Childhood Institute Reports and Publications

Consistent with the 2019 MRS, the Institute conducted a survey of all licensed child care providers across the state to obtain private pay child care rates for children with or without medical and behavioral needs. Categories of focus for data collection and reporting included: 1. Geographic location: rural or urban 2. Type of care: Family Child Care Home I, Family Child Care Home II, Child Care Center, and School Age License 3. Age group of children: infant, toddler, pre-school, and school-age 4. Status of medical and behavioral needs 5. Accreditation 6. Extent to which child care providers participate in Child …

Measuring Social Integration: Linking Personal And Associational Ties In Ego Networks, Sela Harcey

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Objective: Social integration is a foundational feature of society that influences individual-level outcomes. However, as our social worlds increase in complexity, integration becomes difficult to precisely measure. Contributing to research on social integration, this dissertation: (1) develops more precise ways to measure social integration, (2) identifies who is socially integrated, and (3) explores which social ties have the most influence on social integration.

Study 1: The first study aims to measure social integration more precisely by establishing a network structure and set of measures that utilize personal and associational ties with ego network data. Defined as personal affiliation networks (PAN), …

Cover Guys: Masculinity, Sexuality, And Representations Of Men's Bodies In Popular Magazines For Men, Trenton M. Haltom

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Scant research puts magazines into conversation with sociological theories of masculinity or sexuality. Yet, magazines have long projected idealized images of masculinities, the male body, and men’s sexuality. In this dissertation, I examine representations of men in popular magazines, highlighting the multifaceted ways magazines have marketed masculinity and the sexualization of men.

Using an explanatory sequential mixed method content analysis, I analyze 38 years (1980–2018; N=2,750) of magazine covers from GQ (n=516), Men’s Health (n=277), and Sports Illustrated (n=1,671). Each cover was coded using a standardized coding form developed for this dissertation. The coding …

Childhood Trauma And Substance Use: Differences By Race And Sex In Juvenile Justice Prevention Programs In Nebraska, Sophie Holtz

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This study seeks to analyze whether demographic factors such as gender and race have a relationship to the reporting of trauma symptoms in juveniles. This study also examines whether higher substance use has a relationship to higher reports of trauma symptoms. To gather this data, surveys were administered to juveniles involved in juvenile justice prevention programs across the state of Nebraska. Overall, we found that juvenile girls reported significantly higher amounts of trauma symptoms than boys do. There was also a significant difference in how much juvenile girls report using cannabis compared to juvenile boys. Furthermore, there was not a …

Twitch.Tv And Its Lgbtqia+ Tag: A Digital Ethnography Investigating How Lgbtqia+-Affirming Video Game Streamers And Viewers Interact And Build Lgbtqia+ Spaces Online, Cadyn Alexander Williamson

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

LGBT people use online communities to find information and people with shared experiences. Many also find communities within video game culture. However, there is some tension between LGBT people and “true gamers” who are typically white cisgender heterosexual men. For those who do not fit the “true gamer” label, studies have found high levels of online harassment. This study investigates how LGBT people use Twitch.tv, a livestreaming video game website. Built on previous research of LGBT people, online communities, and video game culture, I answer the question: How, and to what extent, do interactions between streamers and viewers using the …

Effect Of Demographic And Health Dynamics On Cognitive Status In Mexico Between 2001 And 2015: Evidence From The Mexican Health And Aging Study, Silvia Mejia-Arango, Jaqualine Avila, Brian Downer, Marc A. Garcia, Alejandra Michaels-Obregon, Joseph L. Saenz, Rafael Samper-Ternent, Rebeca Wong

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Sources of health disparities such as educational attainment, cardiovascular risk factors, and access to health care affect cognitive impairment among older adults. To examine the extent to which these counteracting changes affect cognitive aging over time among Mexican older adults, we examine how sociodemographic factors, cardiovascular diseases, and their treatment relate to changes in cognitive function of Mexican adults aged 60 and older between 2001 and 2015. Self and proxy respondents were classified as dementia, cognitive impairment no dementia (CIND), and normal cognition. We use logistic regression models to examine the trends in dementia and CIND for men and women …

Associations Between Community Built Environments With Early Care And Education Classroom Physical Activity Practices And Barriers, Bethany D. Williams, Susan B. Sisson, Dipti Dev, Bryce Lowery, Diane Horm, Janis Campbell, Denise Finneran, Jennifer Graef-Downard, Linda Whaley

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

The influence of community-built environments on physical activity (PA) support in Early Childhood Education settings (ECEs) is unknown. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine associations between community PA environments and ECE classroom PA practices. We included licensed Oklahoma ECE directors serving 3-to-5-year-old children. Parks and playground locations were exported from Google Earth. National Walkability Index was derived from 2010 US Census data. ArcMap 10.6 was used to geocode ECE locations, which were within an Activity Desert if no parks/playgrounds were located within a 1-mile radius or if Walkability Index was 10.5 or below. Classroom PA practices were …

Editorial: Children’S Competencies Development In The Home Learning Environment, Frank Niklas, Caroline Cohrssen, Simone Lehrl, Amy R. Napoli

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Systematic Review Of Recommendations For Behavioral Health Services For Transgender And Gender Diverse Adults: The Three-Legged Stool Of Evidence-Based Practice Is Unbalanced, Natalie Holt, Allura L. Ralston, Debra A. Hope, Richard Mocarski, Nathan Woodruff

Trans Collaborations Academic Papers

There is a growing literature of clinical recommendations for transgender and gender diverse (TGD) affirming behavioral health care, yet it is unknown to what extent these recommendations are rooted in evidence-based practice (EBP). This systematic review included 65 articles published between 2009 and 2018 with recommendations for behavioral health services with TGD adults, emphasizing general clinical care. Coded variables included type of article, participant demographics, aspects of EBP, and whether care was informed by objective assessment. Most articles did not equally draw from all components of EBP. Recommendations for specific clinical problems are increasingly available and address diversity within TGD …

What Does The Research Teach Feminists About The Possibility Of Organizational Change?, Barbara J. Risman, Julia Mcquillan

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

At the winter meeting of SWS [Sociologists for Women in Society] in 2019, Barbara [Risman] heard Julia [McQuillan] give her SWS Feminist Lecture and was totally fascinated. The U.S. National Science Foundation had been spending millions of dollars each year to promote gender transformation on college campuses, hoping to increase the participation of women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines. What had we learned about the organizational policies that were changed to overcome gender bias? What interventions made the most change? What did not seem to make any difference? Julia presented data on 19 years (at the time) …

Real-Life Conundrums In The Struggle For Institutional Transformation, Julia Mcquillan, Nestor Hernandez

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Intersecting systems of inequality (i.e., gender and race/ethnicity) are remarkably resistant to change. Many universities, however, seek National Science Foundation Institutional Transformation awards to change processes, procedures, and cultures to make science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) departments more inclusive. In this article we describe a case study with observations for eight years of before (2000–2007), five during (2008–2013), and seven after (2014–2020) intensive efforts to increase women through reducing barriers and increasing access to women. Finally, we reflect on flawed assumptions built into the proposal, the slow and uneven change in the proportion of women over time, the strengths …

Associations Between Community Nutrition Environments And Early Care And Education Classroom Nutrition Practices, Bethany Williams, Susan B. Sisson, Bryce Lowery, Dipti Dev, Diane M. Horm, Janis Campbell, Denise Finneran, Jennifer Graef-Downard

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Poor child diet is influenced by nutrition environments surrounding schools and homes; influence of these environments on Early Care and Education (ECE) settings is not understood. The purpose of this study was to determine associations between community nutrition environments and ECE classroom nutrition practices, by ECE context [Head Starts, community-based childcare (CBCs), and family child care homes (FCCHs)].

Conclusions: Contrary to studies in residential areas and schools, nutrition environments were not related to nutrition practices in ECEs. This suggests that ECEs may serve as protective microenvironments supporting health for children more vulnerable to the health environments of their nearby residing …