Sociology Commons^™

Effect Of School Racial Composition On Trajectories Of Depressive Symptoms From Adolescence Through Early Adulthood, Katrina M. Walsemann, Bethany A. Bell, Bridget J. Goosby

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

We investigate the effect of high school racial composition, measured as percent of non-Hispanic white students, on trajectories of depressive symptoms from adolescence to early adulthood. We also explore whether the effect of school racial composition varies by respondent race/ethnicity and whether adult socioeconomic status mediates this relationship. We analyzed four waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health using 3-level linear growth models. We restricted our sample to respondents enrolled in grades 9-12 in 1994/5 who were interviewed at a minimum in Waves I and IV. This resulted in 10,350 respondents enrolled in 80 high schools …

Watching The Detectives: Crime Programming, Fear Of Crime, And Attitudes About The Criminal Justice System, Lisa A. Kort-Butler, Kelley J. Sittner Hartshorn

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Research demonstrates a complex relationship between television viewing and fear of crime. Social critics assert that media depictions perpetuate the dominant cultural ideology about crime and criminal justice. This article examines whether program type differentially affects fear of crime and perceptions of the crime rate. Next, it tests whether such programming differentially affects viewers’ attitudes about the criminal justice system, and if these relationships are mediated by fear. Results indicated that fear mediated the relationship between viewing nonfictional shows and lack of support for the justice system. Viewing crime dramas predicted support for the death penalty, but this relationship was …

Distress Among Indigenous North Americans: Generalized And Culturally Relevant Stressors, Melissa L. Walls, Les B. Whitbeck

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Stress process and life-course models of mental distress emphasize socio-cultural and historical processes that influence stress exposure and the impact of stress on mental health outcomes. Drawing from these theoretical orientations as well as concepts from the historical trauma literature, we examine the effects of culturally relevant and more generalized sources of stress on distress among North American Indigenous adults, and tests for the potential cumulative and interactive effects of stress on distress across the life-course via self-reported early childhood and adult/contemporary stressors. Results of OLS regression analyses reveal positive, significant associations between general stressors and distress as well as …

Variation In Distress Among Women With Infertility: Evidence From A Population-Based Sample, Arthur L. Greil, Karina M. Shreffler, Lone Schmidt, Julia Mcquillan

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND We examine variation in fertility-specific distress (FSD) and general distress according to different experiences of infertility among 1027 US women who have experienced infertility within the previous 10 years.

METHODS General distress was measured by a short form of the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression. Multiple regression analysis was conducted on self-report data (based on a telephone interview) from a probability-based sample of US women aged 25–45 years. We compare women with infertility who have had a prior pregnancy (secondary infertility, n = 628) to women with infertility with no prior pregnancies (primary infertility, n = 399). We further distinguish …

Are Prior Pregnancy Outcomes Relevant For Models Of Fertility-Specific Distress Or Infertility Helpseeking?, Arthur L. Greil, Katherine M. Johnson, Julia Mcquillan, Naomi L Lacy

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Women with prior pregnancy but no live birth are inconsistently termed as either ‘primary infertile’ or ‘secondary infertile’ in psychosocial studies of infertile women. The goal of this study was to discover whether infertile women who had experienced pregnancies but no live births were more similar in attitudes and behavior to infertile women who had not experienced pregnancies or to those who had live births. We used the National Survey of Fertility Barriers (NSFB), which contains self-reported data from a probability-based sample of US women aged between 25 and 45, to accomplish our goal. In this cross-sectional analysis, infertile women …

School-Based Extracurricular Activity Involvement And Adolescent Self-Esteem: A Growth-Curve Analysis, Lisa A. Kort-Butler, Kellie J. Hagewen

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Research on adolescent self-esteem indicates that adolescence is a time in which individuals experience important changes in their physical, cognitive, and social identities. Prior research suggests that there is a positive relationship between an adolescent’s participation in structured extracurricular activities and well-being in a variety of domains, and some research indicates that these relationships may be dependent on the type of activities in which adolescents participate. Building on previous research, a growth-curve analysis was utilized to examine self-esteem trajectories from adolescence (age 14) to young adulthood (age 26). Using 3 waves of data from National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health …

Alcohol Use Trajectories And Problem Drinking Over The Course Of Adolescence: A Study Of North American Indigenous Youth And Their Caretakers, Jacob E. Cheadle, Les B. Whitbeck

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This study investigated the links between alcohol use trajectories and problem drinking (DSM-IV abuse/dependence) using five waves of data from 727 North American Indigenous adolescents between 10–17 years from eight reservations sharing a common language and culture. Growth mixture models linking fundamental causes, social stressors, support, and psychosocial pathways to problem drinking via alcohol use trajectories over the early life course were estimated. Results indicated that 20% of the adolescents began drinking at 11–12 years of age and that another 20% began drinking shortly thereafter. These early drinkers were at greatly elevated risk for problem drinking, as were those who …

Introduction: Charlotte Perkins Gilman On The Sociology Of Families, Marriages, And Children, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Charlotte Perkins Gilman died in 1935, but she remains today a provocative sociological writer; she makes us think, argue, and question our preconceptions, especially with regard to marriage and family. Several posthumous volumes of Gilman’s work have been produced and it has been my pleasure to help present three of Gilman’s (1997, 2002, 2004) major sociological writings to new generations of readers in English. As noted in the preface, it has been a special honor to acquaint an audience of Italian readers with a selection of her powerful writings on families, marriages, and children.1 The present volume joins a small …

Pregnancy And Mental Health Of Young Homeless Women, Devan M. Crawford, Emily C. Trotter, Kelley J. Sittner Hartshorn, Les B. Whitbeck

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Pregnancy rates among women in the U.S. who are homeless are much higher than rates among women who are housed (Greene & Ringwalt, 1998). Yet little research has addressed mental health, risk and resilience among young mothers who are homeless. This study utilizes a sample of women from the Midwest Longitudinal Study of Homeless Adolescents (MLSHA) to investigate pregnancy and motherhood over three years among unaccompanied homeless young mothers. Our data are supplemented by in-depth interviews with a subset of these women. Results show that almost half of sexually active young women (n = 222, μ age = 17.2) had …

Maturation, Peer Context, And Indigenous Girls' Early-Onset Substance Use, Melissa L. Walls, Les B. Whitbeck

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This paper examines a biosocial model of the impact of puberty on Indigenous girls' early-onset substance use by considering the potential mediating role of peer context (i.e. mixed-sex peer groups and substance use prototypes) on the puberty and substance use relationship. Data include responses from 360 girls of a common Indigenous cultural group residing on reservations/reserves in the upper Midwest and Canada. Results of structural equation modeling revealed that the statistically significant relationship between girls' pubertal development and early-onset substance use was mediated by both mixed-sex/romantic peer groups and favorable social definitions of substance use. Implications for substance use prevention …

Archival Methods And The Veil Of Sociology, Mary Jo Deegan

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Archival methods of research are crucial to reconstruct. interpret. and evaluate contributions of early sociologists that are hidden behind the veiIs of racism and sexism. Many of these founding sociologists profoundly shaped their communities and created important organizations to combat social inequality and injustice. Their lives as intellectuals were frequently controversial. which made them political anathemas to mainstream sociologists, usually white males working in prestigious universities who wanted money. fame, and prestige for the new discipline and its leaders.

In this chapter, [recount how r began a career using historical research to understand the rich. alternative history of the profession. …

The Social Construction Of Infertility, Arthur L. Greil, Julia Mcquillan, Kathleen S. Slauson-Blevins

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Health and illness are not objective states but socially constructed categories. We focus here on infertility, a phenomenon that has shifted from being seen as a private problem of couples to being seen as a medical condition. Studying infertility provides an ideal vantage point from which to study such features of health care as inter-societal and cross-cultural disparities in health care, the relationship between identity and health, gender roles, and social and cultural variations in the process of medicalization. Infertility is stratified, both globally and within Western societies. Access to care is extremely limited for many women in developing societies …

An Experimental Examination Of The Content Of Persuasion Letters On Nonresponse Rates And Survey Estimates In A Nonresponse Follow-Up Study, Kristen Olson, James M. Lepkowski, David H. Garabrant

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Nonresponse follow-up studies are often conducted to understand whether respondents and nonrespondents differ on survey variables of interest in sample surveys. Methods used to recruit respondents often differ between nonresponse follow-up studies and main studies. One method is persuasion letters sent from study staff to nonrespondents that are tailored to the types of concerns raised by the respondent and recorded in paradata about the survey recruitment process. This study examined whether tailored persuasion letters yield higher response rates in nonresponse follow-up and whether respondents to a nonresponse follow-up differ depending on the content of the persuasion letter. Nonrespondents to the …

Are We Keeping The People Who Used To Stay? Changes In Correlates Of Panel Survey Attrition Over Time, Kristen Olson, Lindsey Witt

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

As survey response rates decline, correlates of survey participation may also be changing. Panel studies provide an opportunity to study a rich set of correlates of panel attrition over time. We look at changes in attrition rates in the American National Election Studies from 1964 to 2004, a repeated panel survey with a two-wave pre-post election design implemented over multiple decades. We examine changes in attrition rates by three groups of variables: sociodemographic and ecological characteristics of the respondent and household, party affiliation and political and social attitudes recorded at the first interview, and paradata about the first wave interview. …

Multiple Auxiliary Variables In Nonresponse Adjustment, Frauke Kreuter, Kristen Olson

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Prior work has shown that effective survey nonresponse adjustment variables should be highly correlated with both the propensity to respond to a survey and the survey variables of interest. In practice, propensity models are often used for nonresponse adjustment with multiple auxiliary variables as predictors. These auxiliary variables may be positively or negatively associated with survey participation, they may be correlated with each other, and can have positive or negative relationships with the survey variables. Yet the consequences for nonresponse adjustment of these conditions are not known to survey practitioners. Simulations are used here to examine the effects of multiple …

The Importance Of Fatherhood To U.S. Married And Cohabiting Men, Veronica Tichenor, Julia Mcquillan, Arthur L. Greil, Raleigh Contreras, Karina M. Shreffler

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Using a non-hierarchical approach to identity theory, we construct a scale to analyze the characteristics associated with the importance of fatherhood in a national sample of male partners (N = 932) of U.S. women of reproductive age, including fathers and non-fathers. OLS multiple regression shows that economic situation is not associated with importance of fatherhood, but valuing career success, higher education, higher religiosity and non-egalitarian gender attitudes (compared to egalitarian) are associated with higher importance of fatherhood scores. Leisure, age, fertility problems, and non-egalitarian gender attitudes are associated with importance of fatherhood scores differently for fathers and non-fathers. Although fathers …

The Human-Environment Dialog In Award-Winning Children’S Picture Books, J. Allen Williams, Christopher Podeschi, Nathan Palmer, Philip Schwadel, Deanna Meyler

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Picture books often play an important role in childhood socialization. Given the seriousness of environmental problems, we ask how natural, modified, and built environments have been portrayed in children’s books. To answer this question, we analyze the 296 books receiving Caldecott awards from 1938 to 2008. Two possibilities are explored with respect to content change. Growing concern about critical environmental problems, such as decline in biodiversity and deforestation, may have led to an increase in illustrations and stories about wild animals and the natural environment. Alternatively, the increasing isolation of people from the natural world may have resulted in a …

Age, Period, And Cohort Effects On Religious Activities And Beliefs, Philip Schwadel

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Despite the theoretical emphasis on religious decline in modern societies, sociologists remain divided over trends in religious activity and belief that support or refute claims of religious decline. Much of this disagreement stems from the inability to distinguish between period and cohort effects when analyzing repeated cross-sectional survey data. I use the intrinsic estimator, a recently developed method of simultaneously estimating age, period, and cohort effects, to examine changes in Americans’ religious service attendance, prayer, belief in the afterlife, and biblical literalism. Results show that regular service attendance declines, predominantly across cohorts. There are also period-and cohort-based declines in biblical …

Predictors Of Change In Self-Reported Social Networks Among Homeless Young People, Christina D. Falci, Les B. Whitbeck, Dan R. Hoyt, Trina Rose

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This research investigates changes in social network size and composition of 351 homeless adolescents over 3 years. Findings show that network size decreases over time. Homeless youth with a conduct disorder begin street life with small networks that remain small over time. Caregiver abuse is associated with smaller emotional networks due to fewer home ties, especially to parents, and a more rapid loss of emotional home ties over time. Homeless youth with major depression start out with small networks, but are more likely to maintain network ties. Youth with substance abuse problems are more likely to maintain instrumental home ties. …

Heterogeneity And Its Impact On Thermal Robustness And Attractor Density, Yuri Cantor, Bilal Khan, Kirk Dombrowski

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

There is considerable research relating the structure of Boolean networks to their state space dynamics. In this paper, we extend the standard model to include the effects of thermal noise, which has the potential to deflect the trajectory of a dynamical system within its state space, sending it from one stable attractor to another. We introduce a new “thermal robustness” measure, which quantifies a Boolean network’s resilience to such deflections. In particular, we investigate the impact of structural homogeneity on two dynamical properties: thermal robustness and attractor density. Through computational experiments on cyclic Boolean networks, we ascertain that as a …

Queryarch3d: Querying And Visualising 3d Models Of A Maya Archaeological Site In A Web-Based Interface, Giorgio Agugiaro, Fabio Remondino, Gabrio Girardi, Jennifer Von Schwerin, Heather Richards-Rissetto, Raffaele De Amicis

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Constant improvements in the field of surveying, computing and distribution of digital-content are reshaping the way Cultural Heritage can be digitised and virtually accessed, even remotely via web. A traditional 2D approach for data access, exploration, retrieval and exploration may generally suffice, however more complex analyses concerning spatial and temporal features require 3D tools, which, in some cases, have not yet been implemented or are not yet generally commercially available. Efficient organisation and integration strategies applicable to the wide array of heterogeneous data in the field of Cultural Heritage represent a hot research topic nowadays. This article presents a visualisation …

Risk Factors For Running Away Among A General Population Sample Of Males And Females, Kimberly A. Tyler, Kellie J. Hagewen, Lisa A. Melander

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The present study examines risk factors for running away and homelessness among a sample of more than 7,000 currently housed youth using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Structural equation modeling results revealed that those with greater levels of family instability and those who ran away at Wave 2 were significantly more likely to run away and/or become homeless 5 years later at Wave 3. Family instability also had a significant indirect effect on running away and/or being homeless at Wave 3 through greater levels of problem behaviors and running away at Wave 2. Running away at …

The Effect Of Poor Parenting On Male And Female Dating Violence Perpetration And Victimization, Kimberly A. Tyler, Douglas A. Brownridge, Lisa A. Melander

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This study examines the effects of poor parenting on dating violence perpetration and victimization among approximately 900 males and females from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Results revealed that more physical abuse and low parental warmth were linked to greater substance use and higher rates of delinquency. In addition, low parental warmth, more neglect, and greater delinquency had positive direct effects on dating violence perpetration, whereas more physical abuse, low parental warmth, and increased delinquency were all positively associated with dating violence victimization. Finally, delinquency mediated the link between low parental warmth and dating violence perpetration …

Pregnancy And Intimate Partner Violence: Risk Factors, Severity, And Health Effects, Douglas A. Brownridge, Tamara L. Tallieu, Kimberly A. Tyler, Agnes Tiwari, Ko Ling Chan, Susy C. Santos

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The current study compares female victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) who were and were not victimized during pregnancy. Victims of pregnancy violence are more likely to report having experienced all forms of violence, particularly severe forms, and have higher odds of experiencing several postviolence indicators of severity and adverse health consequences. The significance of predictors disappears in a post hoc analysis controlling for proxies of battering behavior (i.e., repeated and severe violence), suggesting that victims who experience violence during pregnancy may be more likely to be in a current intimate relationship with an abuser who inflicts repeated and severe …

Same-Sex Marriage In A Welcoming World: Rights Consciousness Of Heterosexuals In Liberal Religious Institutions, Emily Kazyak

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Previous research suggests that gays and lesbians not only look to the law as an important site of social recognition but also pursue strategies to legitimate their relationships outside of the law, such as having commitment ceremonies in religious institutions. While previous research suggests that homosexuality is a divisive issue within religious communities, we know little about how heterosexual religious people understand same-sex marriage. I aim to fill this gap and analyze the rights consciousness of heterosexual members in liberal religious denominations. Drawing on in-depth interviews, I examine how people make sense of the relationship between law and social change. …

The Effect Of Early Maltreatment, Victimization, And Partner Violence On Hiv Risk Behavior Among Homeless Young Adults, Lisa A. Melander, Kimberly A. Tyler

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Purpose: The purpose of our study was to examine the relationship between child maltreatment, physical and sexual victimization, and partner violence victimization with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risk behaviors among a sample of homeless young adults from the midwestern United States.
Methods: Data are from the Homeless Young Adult Project. A total of 199 young adults aged 19–26 years were interviewed over 14 months using a systematic sampling strategy. The final sample included 172 young adults who were homeless or had a history of running away and being homeless.
Results: Results from the path analysis revealed that sexual abuse is …

The Civilizing Process And Its Discontents: Suicide And Crimes Against Persons In France, 1825–1830, Hugh P. Whitt

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

A spatial analysis of data for French départements assembled in the 1830s by André-Michel Guerry and Adolphe d’Angeville examines the impacts of modernization and resistance to governmental “Frenchification” policies on measures of violence and its direction. In the context of Unnithan et al.’s integrated model of suicide and homicide, high suicide rates in the northern core and a predilection for violence against others in the southern periphery may be consistently interpreted in terms of theories of the civilizing process and internal colonialism. Alternative explanations of southern violence in 19th-century France are explored and rejected, and additional theoretical applications are suggested.

Advice When Children Come Out: The Cultural “Tool Kits” Of Parents, Karin A. Martin, David J. Hutson, Emily Kazyak, Kristin S. Scherrer

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The family is one of the main areas of social life where the normalization of gay and lesbian identity is incomplete. Most research analyzes the individual and psychological aspects of how families respond to children’s disclosure of a gay or lesbian identity and ignores the social, cultural, and historical contexts. An examination of the cultural discourses, tools, and strategies that are available to parents is necessary for a full understanding of how families respond to gay and lesbian children. The authors conduct an interpretive content analysis of 29 advice books to assess this cultural field and its institutional resources. They …

Experienced And Vicarious Victimization: Do Social Support And Self-Esteem Prevent Delinquent Responses?, Lisa A. Kort-Butler

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This article extended research that views violent victimization as a stressor that may lead to delinquency. Following general strain theory, the analysis considered the mediating role of fearfulness, depression, and anxiety. The analysis also examined whether social support and self-esteem conditioned the relationship between victimization and delinquency. Results indicated that negative emotions did not substantially mediate the effect of victimization on delinquency. Among those with lower levels of both social support and self-esteem, experiencing violent victimization and witnessing victimization led to general delinquency. Victimization was unrelated to general delinquency among those with higher levels of both these resources. Experiencing victimization …

Birth Weight, Cognitive Development, And Life Chances: A Comparison Of Siblings From Childhood Into Early Adulthood, Jacob Cheadle, Bridget J. Goosby

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Child Sample (CNLSY79), we sought to elaborate the complex interplay between childhood health and educational development over the early life course. Our approach made use of sibling comparisons to estimate the relationship between birth weight, cognitive development, and timely high school completion in models that spanned childhood, adolescence, and into early adulthood. Our findings indicated that lower birth weight, even after adjusting for fixed-family characteristics and aspects of the home environment that varied between siblings, was associated with decreased cognitive skills at age 5 and marginally significantly slower growth rates into …