Sociology Commons^™

Does The Reason Matter? Variations In Childlessness Concerns Among U.S. Women, Julia Mcquillan, Arthur L. Greil, Patricia Wonch Hill, Kari C. Gentzler, John D. Hathcoat

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Does the reason why women have no children matter with regard to level of childlessness concerns? Reasons include biomedical barriers, situational barriers, delaying motherhood, and choosing to be childfree. The concept of ‘‘childlessness concerns’’ captures the idea that holidays and family gatherings are difficult because of not having children or feeling left out or sad that others have children. Life course and identity theories guided the structural equation model analyses of a representative sample of 1,180 U.S. women without children from the National Survey of Fertility Barriers. The results indicated that women with the least control over pregnancy, those with …

The Effects Of Item Saliency And Question Design On Measurement Error In A Self-Administered Survey, Michael J. Stern, Jolene D. Smyth, Jeanette Mendez

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Recent survey design research has shown that small changes in the structure and visual layout of questions can affect respondents’ answers, but the results are not always consistent across studies. One possible reason for some of the inconsistency may be differences in the item saliency of the questions used in the experiments. In this article, the authors examine how item saliency might influence visual design effects. The authors report the results of three experimental alterations in question format and visual design using data from a 2005 random sample mail survey of 1,315 households. The results suggest that the saliency of …

Exploring The Relationships Of Perceived Discrimination, Anger, And Aggression Among North American Indigenous Adolescents, Kelley J. Sittner Hartshorn, Les B. Whitbeck, Dan R. Hoyt

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

A growing body of research has documented associations between discrimination, anger, and delinquency, but the exact nature of these associations remains unclear. Specifically, do aggressive behaviors emerge over time as a consequence of perceived discrimination and anger? Or do adolescents who engage in aggressive behavior perceive that they are being discriminated against and become angry? We use autoregressive cross-lagged path analysis on a sample of 692 Indigenous adolescents (mean age = 12 years) from the Northern Midwest and Canada to answer these research questions. Results showed that the direction of effects went only one way; both perceived discrimination and anger …

A Cluster Analysis Of Service Utilization And Incarceration Among Homeless Youth, Lisa A. Kort-Butler, Kimberly A. Tyler

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Our paper examines service usage (e.g., shelter) as well as a typology of individuals who are most likely to use groupings of services among 249 homeless youth. Our results revealed that the majority of homeless young people have used food programs (66%) and street outreach (65%) on at least one occasion within the past year. Cluster analysis of services revealed four distinct groups: (1) basic survival service use, characterized by above average shelter, food, and outreach service use, but below average on counseling, substance abuse/ mental health services, and incarceration; (2) multiple service use, which included above average use of …

Correlates Of Service Utilization Among Homeless Youth, Kimberly A. Tyler, Sarah Akinyemi, Lisa Kort-Butler

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Though few studies exist on service utilization among homeless youth in the U.S., services are important because without them, many of these young people may resort to delinquent strategies in order to meet their daily survival needs. The current study examines frequency and correlates of service utilization (i.e., shelters, food programs, street outreach, counseling, STI and HIV testing) among a sample of 249 homeless youth ages 14 to 21. Multivariate analysis revealed significant differences in service usage by sex, age, and sexual orientation. Experiencing family physical and/or sexual abuse, being kicked out of the family home, spending more nights per …

An Examination Of Within-Person Variation In Response Propensity Over The Data Collection Field Period, Kristen Olson, Robert M. Groves

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Statistical examinations of deterministic and stochastic response propensity assert that a sample case’s propensity is determined by fixed respondent characteristics. The perspective of this article, that of dynamic response propensities, differs, viewing sample cases’ propensities as evolving over the course of the data collection. Each sample case begins the data collection period in a “base” response propensity. Each change in the data collection protocol which the survey organization subsequently makes might change that base propensity. This article examines four questions: (1) Is there any evidence that the average response propensities of sampled individuals vary over the data collection? (2) Is …

Does Giving People Their Preferred Survey Mode Actually Increase Survey Participation Rates? An Experimental Examination, Kristen Olson, Jolene D. Smyth, Heather M. Wood

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Survey research has long grappled with the concept of survey mode preference: the idea that a respondent may prefer to participate in one survey mode over another. This article experimentally examines the effect of mode preference on response, contact, and cooperation rates; mode choice; and data collection efficiency. Respondents to a 2008 telephone survey (n = 1,811; AAPOR RR3 = 38 percent) were asked their mode preference for future survey participation. These respondents were subsequently followed up in 2009 with two independent survey requests. The first follow-up survey request was another telephone survey (n = 548; AAPOR RR2 = 55.5 …

Estimating The Size Of The Methamphetamine-Using Population In New York City Using Network Sampling Techniques, Kirk Dombrowski, Bilal Khan, Travis Wendel, Katherine Mclean, Evan Misshula, Ric Curtis

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

As part of a recent study of the dynamics of the retail market for methamphetamine use in New York City, we used network sampling methods to estimate the size of the total networked population. This process involved sampling from respondents’ list of co-use contacts, which in turn became the basis for cap-ture-recapture estimation. Recapture sampling was based on links to other respondents derived from demographic and “telefunken” matching procedures–the latter being an anonymized version of telephone number matching. This paper describes the matching process used to discover the links between the solic-ited contacts and project respondents, the capture-recapture calculation, the …

Macrostructure From Microstructure: Generating Whole Systems From Ego Networks, Jeffrey A. Smith

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This paper presents a new simulation method to make global network inference from sampled data. The proposed simulation method takes sampled ego network data and uses Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGM) to reconstruct the features of the true, unknown network. After describing the method, the paper presents two validity checks of the approach: the first uses the 20 largest Add Health networks while the second uses the Sociology Coauthorship network in the 1990’s. For each test, I take random ego network samples from the known networks and use my method to make global network inference. I find that my method …

Poor Parenting And Antisocial Behavior Among Homeless Young Adults : Links To Dating Violence Perpetration And Victimization, Kimberly A. Tyler, Lisa Melander

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Though research has examined risk factors associated with street victimization among homeless young people, little is known about dating violence experiences among this group. Given homeless youths’ elevated rates of child maltreatment, it is likely that they are at high risk for dating violence. As such, the current study examined the association between child maltreatment and parental warmth with dating violence perpetration and victimization through substance use and delinquency among a sample of 172 homeless males and females. Results from path analysis revealed that physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect were all significant correlates of both substance use and delinquency, …

Adolescent Violent Victimization And Precocious Union Formation, Danielle C. Kuhl, David F. Warner, Andrew Wilczak

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This article bridges scholarship in criminology and family sociology by extending arguments about “precocious exits” from adolescence to consider early union formation as a salient outcome of violent victimization for youths. Research indicates that early union formation is associated with several negative outcomes; yet the absence of attention to union formation as a consequence of violent victimization is noteworthy. We address this gap by drawing on life course theory and data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to examine the effect of violent victimization (“street” violence) on the timing of first coresidential union formation—differentiating between marriage …

The Intergenerational Effects Of Relocation Policies On Indigenous Families, Melissa L. Walls, Les B. Whitbeck

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This research utilizes life-course perspective concepts of linked lives and historical time and place to examine the multigenerational effects of relocation experiences on Indigenous families. Data were collected from a longitudinal study currently underway on four American Indian reservations in the Northern Midwest and four Canadian First Nation reserves where residents share a common Indigenous cultural heritage. This paper includes information from 507 10 – 12 year old Indigenous youth and their biological mothers who participated in the study. Results of path analysis revealed significant direct and indirect effects whereby grandparent-generation (G1) participation in government relocation programs negatively impacts not …

Advanced Seminar – Interviewer-Respondent Interaction: Survey Research & Methodology Special Topics 898, Spring 2012, Robert Belli

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This course will explore the theory and observations that underlie the attempt of survey methodologists to understand the nature of interviewer-respondent interactions and their impact on data quality. This exploration will entail the examination of different interviewing methods and different methods to observe and analyze the verbal behavioral streams that occur between interviewers and respondents. In addition, analytic approaches that seek to understand the impact of verbal behaviors on data quality will be considered.

Social Class And Finding A Congregation: How Attendees Are Introduced To Their Congregations, Philip Schwadel

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Despite the large numbers of Americans switching religious congregations each year, social scientists know relatively little about how people are introduced to new religious congregations. In this research note, I use multiple surveys of congregants—two surveys of Presbyterians in the 1990s and a survey of attendees from a random sample of congregations in 2001—to examine the effects of education and income on how attendees are introduced to their religious congregations. Results show that education and income are key predictors of how attendees find their congregations. In general, Americans with low levels of education and income are disproportionately likely to be …

A Qualitative Study Of The Formation And Composition Of Social Networks Among Homeless Youth, Kimberly A. Tyler, Lisa Melander

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Although social networks are essential for explaining protective and risk factors among homeless youth, little is known about the formation and composition of these groups. In this study, we utilized 19 in-depth interviews with homeless youth to investigate their social network formation, role relationships, housing status, and network member functions. Our findings reveal that the formation of these networks occurred in different ways including meeting network members through others or in specific social situations. The majority of social network members were currently housed and provided various functions including instrumental and social support and protection. Responses from participants provide valuable insight …

Guinea Pigging In Philadelphia, Roberto Abadie

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

On June 16, 2001, the national press first reported the death of Ellen Roche, a healthy 24-year-old who volunteered for an asthma study at Johns Hopkins University. The story revealed that a few days into the trial she felt very sick, was discharged, and sent home. Within some hours she checked into the emergency room at a local hospital and fell into a coma. Ellen remained in this state until her death a month later. She had received $375 for participating in seven to nine sessions as an outpatient in the clinical drug study that resulted in her death.

This …

Childhood Maltreatment, Parental Monitoring, And Self-Control Among Homeless Young Adults: Consequences For Negative Social Outcomes, Lisa A. Kort-Butler, Kimberly A. Tyler, Lisa A. Melander

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Although parenting factors have been found to contribute to self-control, little is understood about how experiences of maltreatment affect the development of self-control and whether self-control mediates the relationship between maltreatment and negative social outcomes, especially among homeless individuals. This study examined whether lower parental monitoring, physical abuse, and neglect affected the development of self-control and if self-control mediated the relationship between parenting factors and negative social outcomes among a sample of homeless young adults. Results from path analyses indicated that lower parental monitoring and earlier age at first abuse contributed to less cognitive self-control. The effect of monitoring on …

Race-Ethnicity And Medical Services For Infertility: Stratified Reproduction In A Population-Based Sample Of U.S. Women, Arthur L. Greil, Julia Mcquillan, Karina M. Shreffler, Katherine M. Johnson, Kathleen S. Slauson-Blevins

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Evidence of group differences in reproductive control and access to reproductive health care suggests the continued existence of “stratified reproduction” in the United States. Women of color are overrepresented among people with infertility but are underrepresented among those who receive medical services. The authors employ path analysis to uncover mechanisms accounting for these differences among black, Hispanic, Asian, and non-Hispanic white women using a probability-based sample of 2,162 U.S. women. Black and Hispanic women are less likely to receive services than other women. The enabling conditions of income, education, and private insurance partially mediate the relationship between race-ethnicity and receipt …

Everybody’S Doin’ It (Right?): Neighborhood Norms And Sexual Activity In Adolescence, Tara D. Warner, Peggy C. Giordano, Wendy D. Manning, Monica A. Longmore

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

A neighborhood’s normative climate is linked to, but conceptually distinct from, its structural characteristics such as poverty and racial/ethnic composition. Given the deleterious consequences of early sexual activity for adolescent health and well-being, it is important to assess normative influences on youth behaviors such as sexual debut, number of sex partners, and involvement in casual sexual experiences. The current study moves beyond prior research by constructing a measure of normative climate that more fully captures neighborhood norms, and analyzing the influence of normative climate on behavior in a longitudinal framework. Using recently geo-coded data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study …

School Racial Composition And Race/Ethnic Differences In Early Adulthood Health, Bridget J. Goosby, Katrina M. Walsemann

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

We investigate whether school racial composition is associated with racial and ethnic differences in early adult health. We then examine whether perceived discrimination, social connectedness, and parent support attenuates this relationship. Using U.S. data from Waves I and IV of the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health, we found that black adolescents attending predominantly white schools reported poorer adult health while Asians reported better health. Further research is warranted to understand whether there are qualitative differences in the treatment of racial and ethnic minorities within certain school contexts and how that differential treatment is related to adult health outcomes.

Disrupting Cultural Selves: Constructing Gay And Lesbian Identities In Rural Locales, Emily Kazyak

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Research points to the increasing geographical diversity of gays and lesbians, in contrast to cultural narratives that link gay and lesbian sexualities to urban spaces. Examining the sexual identity constructions of rural gays and lesbians thus provides an opportunity to analyze the connection between cultural and personal levels of narrative identity. Drawing on data from thirty interviews with rural gays and lesbians, I address how this group negotiates cultural narratives about queerness and constructs sexual identities in rural locales. I find that their interpretations of geography make clear distinctions between urban/rural and draw on elements in rural culture. These interpretations …

Relationship Formation And Stability In Emerging Adulthood: Do Sex Ratios Matter?, Tara D. Warner, Wendy D. Manning, Peggy C. Giordano, Monica A. Longmore

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Research links sex ratios with the likelihood of marriage and divorce. However, whether sex ratios similarly influence precursors to marriage (transitions in and out of dating or cohabiting relationships) is unknown. Utilizing data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study and the 2000 U.S. Census, this study assesses whether sex ratios influence the formation and stability of emerging adults’ romantic relationships. Findings show that relationship formation is unaffected by partner availability, yet the presence of partners increases women’s odds of cohabiting, decreases men’s odds of cohabiting, and increases number of dating partners and cheating among men. It appears that sex ratios …

The Self-Assessed Literacy Index: Reliability And Validity, Kristen Olson, Jolene D. Smyth, Ying Wang, Jennie E. Pearson

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Literacy is associated with many outcomes of research interest as well as with respondents’ ability to even participate in surveys, yet very few surveys attempt to measure it because doing so is often complex, requiring extensive tests. The central goal of this paper is to develop a parsimonious measure of respondents’ reading ability that does not require a complex literacy test. We use data from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy to identify correlates of reading ability to form a literacy index. These correlates include self-assessments of one’s ability to understand, read and write English, and literacy practices at …

Infertility Treatment And Fertility-Specific Distress: A Longitudinal Analysis Of A Population-Based Sample Of U.S. Women, Arthur L. Greil, Julia Mcquillan, Michele Lowry, Karina M. Shreffler

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Because research on infertile women usually uses clinic-based samples of treatment seekers, it is difficult to sort out to what extent distress is the result of the condition of infertility itself and to what extent it is a consequence of the experience of infertility treatment. We use the National Survey of Fertility Barriers, a two-wave national probability sample of U.S. women, to disentangle the effects of infertility and infertility treatment on fertilityspecific distress. Using a series of ANOVAs, we examine 266 infertile women who experienced infertility both at Wave 1 and at Wave 2, three years later. We compare eight …

Pregnancy Loss And Distress Among U.S. Women, Karina M. Shreffler, Arthur L. Greil, Julia Mcquillan

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Although pregnancy loss—especially miscarriage— is a relatively common experience among reproductive-aged women, much of our understanding about the experience has come from small clinic-based or other nonrepresentative samples. We compared fertility-specific distress among a national sample of 1,284 women who have ever experienced a stillbirth or miscarriage. We found that commitment/attachment to pregnancy that ended in loss as well as current childbearing contexts and attitudes were associated with distress following pregnancy loss. Practitioners working with women or couples who have experienced pregnancy loss should be aware of the importance of characteristics associated with higher distress, such as whether the pregnancy …

Women’S Sexual Orientations And Their Experiences Of Sexual Assault Before And During University, Sandra L. Martin, Bonnie S. Fisher, Tara D. Warner, Christopher P. Krebs, Christine H. Lindquist

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Purpose — We sought to examine relationships between women’s sexual orientations and their sexual assault experiences before and during university.

Methods — Self-reported responses on a web-based survey of 5,439 female undergraduates who participated in the Campus Sexual Assault study were analyzed to compare three groups: bisexuals, lesbians, and heterosexuals. Groups were compared in terms of the prevalence of sexual assault before and during university, and the extent to which sexual assault before university predicted sexual assault during university.

Findings — The prevalence of sexual assault before and during university was higher among bisexuals and lesbians compared with heterosexuals (25.4% …

Understanding How Race/Ethnicity And Gender Define Age-Trajectories Of Disability: An Intersectionality Approach, David F. Warner, Tyson H. Brown

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

A number of studies have demonstrated wide disparities in health among racial/ethnic groups and by gender, yet few have examined how race/ethnicity and gender intersect or combine to affect the health of older adults. The tendency of prior research to treat race/ethnicity and gender separately has potentially obscured important differences in how health is produced and maintained, undermining efforts to eliminate health disparities. The current study extends previous research by taking an intersectionality approach (Mullings & Schulz, 2006), grounded in life course theory, conceptualizing and modeling trajectories of functional limitations as dynamic life course processes that are jointly and simultaneously …

The Role Of Interviewer Experience On Acquiescence, Kristen Olson, Ipek Bilgen

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Experienced interviewers are commonly thought to achieve better quality survey data than inexperienced interviewers. Yet few empirical examinations of differences in data quality on attitudinal questions for experienced versus inexperienced interviewers exist. In this article, we examine whether experienced and inexperienced interviewers differ in their levels of a commonly evaluated data quality measure—acquiescence—in two national surveys. We hypothesize that experienced interviewers will have higher rates of acquiescence than inexperienced interviewers due to either differential pace or differential behaviors. We find that experienced interviewers obtain higher levels of acquiescent reports than do inexperienced interviewers, even after accounting for potential differences in …

Organs Watch: Possibilities And Perils For Public Anthropology, Roberto Abadie

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Recent technological advances in biomedicine have introduced new therapeutic possibilities but have also contributed to the emergence of a global market for human bodies and body parts. For example, artificial modes of human reproduction created a market for eggs, semen, and surrogate wombs. In addition, organ transfer generated a demand for kidneys and half livers. The whole body has become a valuable commodity as professional research subjects venture into the economy of Phase I Clinical Trials, testing drug safety for pharmaceutical companies. In the process, the trade has become a deeply unequal one in which poor, vulnerable, and easily exploited …

Self-Esteem And Mastery Trajectories In High School By Social Class And Gender, Christina D. Falci

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Using longitudinal data from 769 white adolescents in the Midwest, this research applies a social structure and personality perspective to examine variation in self-esteem and mastery trajectories by gender and SES across the high school years. Analyses reveal that high SES adolescents experience significantly steeper gains in self-esteem and mastery compared to low SES adolescents, resulting in the reversal of SES differences in self-esteem and the emergence of significant SES differences in mastery. Pre-existing gender differences in self-esteem narrow between the 9^th and 12^th grade because self-esteem increases at a faster rate among girls than boys during high …