Sociology Commons^™

Rural Participation In Federal Child Nutrition Programs: Two Studies, Barbara Wauchope

Carsey Publications

Carsey Institute Child Nutrition Briefings, Washington, DC

Parks, People And Pixels: Evaluating Landscape Effects Of An East African National Park On Its Surroundings, Jane Southworth, Joel N. Hartter, Michael W. Binford, Abraham Goldman, Colin A. Chapman, Lauren J. Chapman, Patrick Omeja, Elizabeth Binford

Geography

Landscapes surrounding protected areas, while still containing considerable biodiversity, have rapidly growing human populations and associated agricultural development in most of the developing world that tend to isolate them, potentially reducing their conservation value. Using field studies and multi-temporal Landsat imagery, we examine a forest park, Kibale National Park in western Uganda, its changes over time, and related land cover change in the surrounding landscape. We find Kibale has successfully defended its borders and prevents within-park deforestation and other land incursions, and has maintained tree cover throughout the time period of the study. Outside the park there was a significant …

Challenges In Resource Rich Communities: Finding The Path To Redevelopment, Cynthia M. Duncan

Carsey Publications

Northern Forest Higher Education Resource Network Annual Meeting

The National Juvenile Online Victimization Study: Methodology Report., Kimberly J. Mitchell, Janis Wolak, David Finkelhor

Crimes Against Children Research Center

The National Juvenile Online Victimization Study (N‐JOV) was conducted by the Crimes against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. Wave 1 of this study was funded by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice. Wave 2 of this study was funded through grants from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice.

Researchers collected information from a national sample of law enforcement agencies about the prevalence of arrests for, and characteristics of, Internet sex crimes against minors in the …

Place Effects On Environmental Views, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Chris R. Colocousis, Cynthia M. Duncan

Sociology

How people respond to questions involving the environment depends partly on individual characteristics. Characteristics such as age, gender, education, and ideology constitute the well-studied "social bases of environmental concern," which have been explained in terms of cohort effects or of cognitive and cultural factors related to social position. It seems likely that people's environmental views depend not only on personal characteristics but also on their social and physical environments. This hypothesis has been more difficult to test, however. Using data from surveys in 19 rural U.S. counties, we apply mixed-effects modeling to investigate simple place effects with respect to locally …

Homeless Teens And Young Adults In New Hampshire, Barbara Wauchope

Carsey Publications

More than 1,000 adolescents and young adults in New Hampshire are homeless, and their numbers are growing. The brief, co-published with the Children's Alliance of New Hampshire, provides an estimate of homeless youth in New Hampshire calculated from and state data and describes the needs of homeless youth based on interviews and a survey of providers of homeless services in the state.

Over 3 Million Low-Income Children In Rural Areas Face Cut In Child Tax Credit If Recovery Act Improvement Expires, Arloc Sherman, Marybeth J. Mattingly

Carsey Publications

According to this new research, at the end of 2010, the Child Tax Credit improvements that were included in the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will expire if Congress does not extend them. If this happens, low-income working families across America will be affected.

Indicators Of New Hampshire Youth Well-Being , Barbara Wauchope

Carsey Publications

According to a new study, New Hampshire youth, ages 13 to 24, are more likely to complete school, be employed, and have lower obesity rates than their peers nationwide but fare worse in measures of alcohol and substance abuse. This brief, a co-publication with the Children's Alliance of New Hampshire, provides an overview of youth well-being in New Hampshire calculated from and state data and compares Granite State youth with peers across the country.

Youth Opinions Matter: Retaining Human Capital In Coos County, Cesar J. Rebellon, Nena F. Stracuzzi, Melissa Burbank

Carsey Publications

As Coos County youth age, their attachment to their communities may deteriorate. This brief presents new data from the Coos Youth Study. This research indicates efforts to keep young people in Coos may benefit from efforts to show students that their views matter to adults in their communities.

Working Parents And Workplace Flexibility In New Hampshire, Kristin Smith, Malcolm Smith

Carsey Publications

This report, a joint effort between the Carsey Institute, UNH Cooperative Extension, and New Hampshire Employment Security, looks at working parents and their job flexibility and the importance it has for families trying to achieve a work-life balance.

Help In A Haystack: Youth Substance Abuse And Mental Health Services In The North Country, Meghan L. Mills

Carsey Publications

A new brief from Nordblom Fellow Meghan Mills at the Carsey Institute finds that youth in New Hampshire's North Country have challenges in accessing support for substance abuse and mental health issues. Mills also finds that the providers face unique challenges, from getting referrals to hiring professionals, all while working without a functional network.

Too Much Free Time: Coos County Youth Who Are Least Involved In Out-Of-School Activities Are Most Likely To Use Drugs And Alcohol, Erin H. Sharp

Carsey Publications

Carsey Institute researchers are seeing links between the self-reported substance use and involvement in out-of-school activities. As part of a ten-year tracking survey of high school students in Coos County, New Hampshire, this brief finds that those most involved with constructive activities report the least amount of substance abuse.

Out-Of-Home Care By State And Place: Higher Placement Rates For Children In Some Remote Rural Places, Marybeth J. Mattingly, Melissa Wells, Michael Dineen

Carsey Publications

This fact sheet examines out-of-home placement rates for children removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect. The data finds that children in remote rural areas have overall higher rates of out-of-home placements. It also provides data on placement rates by rural or urban status to help inform policy makers as they discuss the child welfare system.

Race, Class, And Community In A Southern Forest-Dependent Region, Chris R. Colocousis, Luke T. Rogers

Carsey Publications

Based on a Community and Environment in Rural America survey, this brief looks at four counties in Alabama. It finds blacks and whites have different outcomes in the community, despite expectations of regional stability and greater equality. Though they reported similar rates of social mobility, African Americans in the "Black Belt" of Alabama are disproportionately poorer and employed in lower-skill jobs than whites.

What's For Dinner? Finding And Affording Healthy Foods In New Hampshire Communities, Nena F. Stracuzzi, Sally Ward

Carsey Publications

Access to healthy food is becoming increasingly difficult for some households in the Granite State, as grocery stores relocate or consolidate, leaving some residents to depend on convenience stores for basic groceries. This brief looks at recent data on food deserts in New Hampshire.

The Changing Faces Of America's Children And Youth, Kenneth M. Johnson, Daniel T. Lichter

Carsey Publications

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates indicate that between July 2008 and July 2009, 48.6 percent of the 4 million children born in the United States were minorities. In contrast, nearly 60 percent of the children born ten years ago were non-Hispanic white. This rapid change demonstrates that America's youth are at the forefront of the country's rapidly shifting demographic makeup. This brief reveals the factors causing this increase in the proportion of minority births.

Challenges In Serving Rural American Children Through The Summer Food Service Program, Barbara Wauchope, Nena F. Stracuzzi

Carsey Publications

When the school year ends, many low-income children rely on the USDA's Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) to supplement their diet. But less than one-third of SFSP sites are located in rural communities and rural children participate at a lower rate than those in more urban areas.

New Hampshire Demographic Trends Reflect Impact Of The Economic Recession, Kenneth M. Johnson

Carsey Publications

Between July 2008 and July 2009, more people left New Hampshire than moved to it, reversing a trend of domestic migration that had fueled the state's population growth over the past decade, according to U.S. Census Bureau data in released March 2010. This fact sheet summarizes the data.

Population, Sex Ratios And Development In Greenland, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Rasmos Ole Rasmussen

Sociology

Abstract

During the 20th century, Greenland society experienced a dramatic transformation from scattered settlements based on hunting, with mostly turf dwellings, to an urbanizing post-industrial economy. This transformation compressed socioeconomic development that took centuries to millennia elsewhere into a few generations. The incomplete demographic transition that accompanied this development broadly followed the classical pattern, but with distinctive variations relating to Greenland's Arctic environment, sparse population, and historical interactions between two cultures: an indigenous Inuit majority and an influential Danish minority. One heritage from Danish colonial administration, and continued more recently under Greenland Home Rule, has been the maintenance of population …

Rural Areas Risk Being Overlooked In 2010 Census, William P. O'Hare

Carsey Publications

This issue brief describes how the census is conducted in rural areas, identifies some of the most difficult rural areas to count, and highlights what organizations are doing to ensure a more accurate census count in rural America. It also points out that undercounting by the census can lead to communities not receiving a fair share of federal funding.

Ocean Views: Coastal Environmental Problems As Seen By Downeast Maine Residents, Thomas G. Safford, Lawrence C. Hamilton

Carsey Publications

This brief contends that loss of fishing jobs and income is the top environment-related concern among residents of Maine's Hancock and Washington counties, as well as forestry decline and water pollution. Also of note, across a wide range of environmental issues, political party affiliation is associated with level of concern about environmental problems.

Updated Trends In Child Maltreatment, 2007., Lisa M. Jones, David Finkelhor

Crimes Against Children Research Center

New data released by the federal government about reported child maltreatment for 2007 show a mixed and ambiguous pic‐ ture about recent trends, with overall substantiated cases flat or declining , but child maltreatment fatalities increasing. The data for the tables and graphs included in this report are de‐ rived from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), which aggregates and publishes statistics from state child protection agencies. The most recent data from NCANDS were released in April, 2009 and concern cases of child mal‐ treatment investigated in 2007. (See http://www.acf.hhs.gov/ programs/cb/pubs/cm07/index.htm for more information.)

Modeling The Effects Of Peremptory Challenges On Jury Selection And Jury Verdicts, Roger Allen Ford

Law Faculty Scholarship

Although proponents argue that peremptory challenges make juries more impartial by eliminating “extreme” jurors, studies testing this theory are rare and inconclusive. For this article, two formal models of jury selection are constructed, and various selection procedures are tested, assuming that attorneys act rationally rather than discriminate based on animus. The models demonstrate that even when used rationally, peremptory challenges can distort jury decision making and undermine verdict reliability. Peremptory challenges systematically shift jurors toward the majority view of the population by favoring median jurors over extreme jurors. If the population of potential jurors is skewed in favor of conviction …

Updated Trends In Child Maltreatment, 2008., David Finkelhor, Lisa M. Jones, Anne M. Shattuck

Crimes Against Children Research Center

Recently released national child maltreatment data for 2008 show a generally encouraging situation during the first year of the serious recession that began in late 2007. Overall substantiated child maltreatment declined 3% from the previous year, including a 6% decline in sexual abuse. Child maltreatment fatalities stayed stable.

Integrating Information And Making Effective Decisions In Teams, Vanessa Urch Druskat

The University Dialogue

No abstract provided.

Seeing Through The Invisible Pink Unicorn, Andrew Stuart Abel, Andrew P. Schaefer

Sociology

This paper explores the quasi-religious aspects of the Invisible Pink Unicorn (IPU), an internet based spoof of religion. IPU message boards situate a moral orientation in an ongoing interactional process that sacralizes parody and an idealized form of “free thinking.” We employ content analysis and grounded theory to argue that IPU writers’ parody of religion serves as a ritual act and conclude our discussion by considering the implications of the findings for the literature on ritual.

The Changing Faces Of America’S Children And Youth, Kenneth M. Johnson, Daniel T. Lichter

Sociology

Recent U.S. Census Bureau projections indicate that by the middle of this century, non-Hispanic whites will cease to be a majority of the American population. In this article we document how for America’s youngest residents, the future is already here. America’s rapidly changing racial and ethnic composition has important implications for intergroup relations, ethnic identities, and electoral politics.

Out-Of-School Time Matters: Activity Involvement And Positive Development Among Coos County Youth, Erin H. Sharp

Carsey Publications

This brief looks at the connections between how youth spend their free time and positive or negative attitudes about themselves and their future plans. Family studies assistant professor and Carsey faculty fellow Erin Hiley Sharp used data from the Carsey Institute's Coos County Youth Survey to show differences by activity level and students' expectations for positive outcomes in their future.

Low Income And Impoverished Families Pay Disproportionately More For Child Care, Kristin Smith, Kristi Gozjolko

Carsey Publications

According to research based on the 2004 Survey of Income and Program Participation, working families with young children living in poverty pay 32 percent of their income on child care, nearly five times more than families living at more than 200 percent of the poverty level. This brief asks policy makers to consider allowing more subsidies to be available to those who could benefit most from them.

Rural Families With A Child Abuse Report Are More Likely Headed By A Single Parent And Endure Economic And Family Stress, Marybeth J. Mattingly, Wendy A. Walsh

Carsey Publications

This brief, which is based on data from the Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, finds that rural families who have been reported to Child Protective Services are more likely than urban families to have financial difficulties and high family stress, as well as grow up in single-parent households. To effectively address these issues, the brief urges policy makers to look at the lack of accessible and adequate services for struggling rural families.