Sociology Commons^™

Predictors Of Social Network Composition Among Homeless And Runaway Adolescents, Kurt D. Johnson, Les B. Whitbeck, Dan R. Hoyt

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Recent research on the social support networks of homeless and runaway youth suggest the social networks of runaway youth are made up largely of transient deviant peer relationships. This paper examined social network characteristics of 428 homeless and runaway adolescents from small to moderate-sized cities in four Midwestern states. We investigated size, homogeneity, and correlates of the composition of the instrumental and emotional support networks as reported by the adolescents. Results showed the networks are considerably heterogeneous, comprised of relationships from home and the street as well as family and non-related adults. Further, the composition of these networks is related …

The Long Reach Of Divorce: Divorce And Child Well-Being Across Three Generations, Paul R. Amato, Jacob Cheadle

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

We used data from the study of Marital Instability Over the Life Course to examine links between divorce in the grandparent generation and outcomes in the grandchild generation (N = 691). Divorce in the first generation (G1) was associated with lower education, more marital discord, weaker ties with mothers, and weaker ties with fathers in the third generation (G3). These associations were mediated by family characteristics in the middle generation (G2), including lower education, more marital discord, more divorce, and greater tension in early parent- child relationships. In supplementary analyses, we found no evidence that the estimated effects of divorce …

Child Neglect And Adolescent Violence: Examining The Effects Of Self-Control And Peer Rejection, Constance L. Chapple, Kimberly A. Tyler, Bianca E. Bersani

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Child maltreatment researchers have often suggested that experiences with child neglect have long-term, negative effects. Child neglect is thought to have particularly adverse effects on self-control, peer relations, and delinquency. In this research, we examine the relationship of child neglect with adolescent violence via self-control and peer rejection. Using prospective, longitudinal data from a community sample, we find that child neglect adversely affects peer rejection and violence. Neglected children were more likely to be rejected by their peers in early adolescence and were more likely to be violent later in adolescence. Contrary to theoretical predictions, child neglect was not a …

Portraits Of Protestant Teens: A Report On Teenagers In Major U.S. Denominations, Philip Schwadel, Christian Smith

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This report examines the religious beliefs and practices of American Protestant teenagers using new, nationally representative survey data from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). The NSYR is a major study of the religious and spiritual lives of contemporary American teens, which recently produced a book on its major findings entitled, Soul Searching: the Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (by Christian Smith with Melinda Lundquist Denton, Oxford University Press, 2005). In addition to broadly describing the religious outlook of Protestant teenagers today — and as a more detailed, descriptive follow-up to that book — this report …

Sociological Thought Experiments: Five Examples From The History Of Sociology, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Iam honored to speak with you today about several topics close to my professional and personal heart. I say personal as well as professional because for some twenty years now my interest in the history of sociology has developed and deepened in tandem with the pioneering research conducted by my life-partner, MaryJo Deegan. Her work on Jane Addams and the Men of the Chicago School, 1892-1918 (Deegan 1988a) has become the paradigm example for the “new history” in sociology, and it is my inspiration for today’s discussion.

A Brief Centennial Bibliography Of Resources On The History Of The American Sociological Society/Association, Michael R. Hill, Susan Hoecker-Drysdale, Jack Nusan Porter, Pamela A. Roby, Kathleen Slobin, Roberta Spalter-Roth

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Celebrating the centennial of the American Sociological Association provides the ritual occasion and reinforces the intellectual rationale for collectively exploring our professional and organizational roots. To guide us on our way, we have compiled a brief bibliography of relevant materials and exemplars that explicate the early history of the American Sociological Society and – to some degree – its subsequent evolution (the line separating “history” from “current events” is not always easily drawn). Practicing extreme parsimony, we have intentionally excluded literally thousands of otherwise important and instructive published works that focus primarily on specific departments of sociology, the ideas and …

Jesse Lawson And The National Sociological Society Of 1903, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The National Sociological Society, rather than the American Sociological Society (now Association), was apparently the first American organization with national aspirations to place, in 1903, the fateful word "Sociological" in its corporate name. Unfortunately, the recent centennial of the National Sociological Society (NSS) passed unnoticed and uncelebrated. The NSS, convened in 1903, was a shortlived organization of African Americans and whites, Northerners and Southerners, academic men, politicians, clergymen, and others, who vigorously confronted the most pressing conundrum in Jim Crow America: how to solve the race problem. The NSS was championed by Jesse Lawson -- an African-American attorney, educator, and …

Pound, Nathan Roscoe (1870-1964), Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Roscoe Pound was born on 27 October 1870 in Lincoln, Nebraska. He was classically trained in languages and the sciences at the University of Nebraska and received the BA degree in 1888. Pound’s innovative graduate studies in botany under the tutelage of Charles E. Bessey, resulted in a doctoral dissertation written jointly with Frederic E. Clements, published in 1898, on The Phytogeography of Nebraska. The Phytogeography established the American school of plant ecology (Tobey 1981) and for his part Pound received the first Nebraska PhD earned “in course” in 1899. Already a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma …

Helena Znaniecka Lopata: Remarks To The Asa Section On The History Of Sociology, Mary Jo Deegan

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

THE DEATH of Helena Znaniecka Lopata represents a significant loss to the History of Sociology section because she was a good friend and colleague. Because of her direct family tie to the early years of sociology, especially at the University of Chicago, her passing also signals the end of an important era in the discipline. I knew Helena for over 30 years, and I was asked to reflect briefly on her life and career at our section reception in Atlanta. For those members not at the reception, this is what I said. Helena Lopata was a friend to many of …

Centenary Of The First Sociology Doctorate At The University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, Mary Jo Deegan, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

On June 10,1905, the Faculty of the Graduate School in the University of Nebraska formally recommended that Anderson William Clark “receive the degree of Doctor of Philosophy” in Sociology.’ Clark, who had completed a dissertation on “State Control and Supervision of Charities and Corrections,” was a Baptist minister and the founding Superintendent of Omaha’s Child Saving Institute.2 Based on extensive firsthand observations, interviews, and examinations of records in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and other states, Clark concluded, “Immediate state control is demanded in order to save the lives of thousands of infants and small children who …

Harriet Martineau’S Ambleside As A Sociological Laboratory, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Harriet Martineau was a pioneering experimental sociologist in the best sense. In a wide variety of social venues, Martineau undertook constructive, consequential, and innovative actions specifically designed to explore and demonstrate social capacities and possibilities, often in concert with her Lake District neighbors. For three decades, from 1846 to her death in 1876, Ambleside witnessed the outcomes of numerous investigations and projects that Martineau championed. This presentation identifies several of Martineau’s sociological experiments.

Centennial Bibliography On The History Of American Sociology, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

THE CENTENNIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN SOCIOLOGY is intended as an inclusive clearinghouse for sources, studies, and other references that illuminate the origins and subsequent development of the sociological enterprise in the United States of America.2 As such, this bibliography is necessarily provisional and is envisioned as an on-going project to which further citations may be added as they are discovered and as new works are published. Due to the enormous scope of the project, and the short time frame within which the initial compilation was completed, countless useful and insightful references have been unintentionally omitted. Some portions …

Education And Churchgoing Protestants' Views Of Highly Politicized Christianity, Philip Schwadel

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Many churchgoing Protestants support a highly political role for the Christian religion, endorsing Christian ideals shaping public policy. Highly educated Protestants' emphasis on individualism and protecting civil liberties, however; can encourage a distrust of highly politicized Christianity. Specifically, college and graduate school educated Protestants often want to avoid forcing the Christian religion on secular society. Regression results from the 1996 Religious Identity and Influence Survey show that, among churchgoing Protestants, education is strongly and negatively correlated with supporting laws based on Christian doctrines. Highly educated Protestants are also less likely than high school educated Protestants to advocate Christians attempting to …

Dialogue On Diversity Teaching: Reflections On Research, Pedagogy, And Passion For Social Justice, Katherine M. Acosta, Helen A. Moore, Gary K. Perry, Crystal Edwards

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

A "diversity" requirement was added to the liberal arts undergraduate curriculum in most colleges a decade ago; at our large Research I campus it is called the "Area H" requirement of the comprehensive education program. As part of our sociological and pedagogical inquiries, we launched a research project to reflect on the experiences of faculty and graduate instructors who teach "Area H" diversity courses. Our goal in conducting and analyzing some sixty in-depth, face-to-face interviews is to understand how intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality intertwine with instructors' classroom teaching experiences.

As we teach multicultural elements that encourage educational …

Improved Regression Estimation Of A Multivariate Relationship With Population Data On The Bivariate Relationship, Mark S. Handcock, Michael S. Rendall, Jacob Cheadle

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Regression coefficients specify the partial effect of a regressor on the dependent variable. Sometimes the bivariate or limited multivariate relationship of that regressor variable with the dependent variable is known from population-level data. We show here that such population- level data can be used to reduce variance and bias about estimates of those regression coefficients from sample survey data. The method of constrained MLE is used to achieve these improvements. Its statistical properties are first described. The method constrains the weighted sum of all the covariate-specific associations (partial effects) of the regressors on the dependent variable to equal the overall …

Individual, Congregational, And Denominational Effects On Church Members’ Civic Participation, Philip Schwadel

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Previous research demonstrates two aspects of religion that affect civic activity—church participation and religious conservatism. Conservative religious beliefs and membership in conservative denominations are often associated with low levels of civic activity while church participation is said to increase civic activity. This article advances the discussion of the relationship between religion and civic participation by introducing the congregational context. Data from the 1987 Church and Community Planning Inventory show that congregations vary in their members’ civic activity—congregational factors associated with conservative Christianity (high levels of biblical literalism and within-church friendships) are strongly and negatively associated with church members’ activity in …

Testing Whiteness: No Child Or No School Left Behind?, Helen A. Moore

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

I began my study of schooling and critical pedagogy as a research assistant for a program called PRIME: Program Research in Multicultural Education. One of our challenges in the mid-1970s was to assist the Principal Investigator, Dr. Jane Mercer, in constructing educational materials for her role as an expert witness in Larry P. v. Riles. Through that project, I learned a great deal about testing issues as they relate to the whiteness of educational, political, legal and policy perspectives. Today, as a sociologist, I commit my research to an understanding of the processes and consequences of testing policy and the …

Mental Disorder, Subsistence Strategies, And Victimization Among Gay, Lesbian, And Bisexual Homeless And Runaway Adolescents, Les B. Whitbeck, Xiaojin Chen, Dan R. Hoyt, Kimberly A. Tyler, Kurt D. Johnson

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This study compares participation in deviant subsistence strategies, street victimization, and lifetime prevalence of five mental disorders (conduct disorder, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse) among heterosexual males and females (n = 366) and gay, lesbian, and bisexual (n = 63) homeless and runaway adolescents from the first wave of a longitudinal study of homeless youth in four Midwestern states. The results indicate that gay, lesbian, and bi¬sexual adolescents were more likely to have been physically and sexually abused by caretakers, were more likely to engage in risky survival strategies when on their own (including …

Risk Factors For Sexual Victimization Among Male And Female Homeless And Runaway Youth, Kimberly A. Tyler, Les B. Whitbeck, Dan R. Hoyt, Ana Mari Cauce

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Risk factors associated with the likelihood of being sexually victimized by a stranger or friend/acquaintance since being on the street was examined among 372 homeless and runaway youth. Young people were interviewed on the streets and in shelters by outreach workers using a systematic sampling strategy. Youth who engaged in more high-risk behaviors were expected to be at greater risk for sexual victimization by both known and unknown assailants. Results indicated that for females, running from home for the first time at an earlier age was associated with sexual victimization by both a stranger and friend/acquaintance. However, engaging in deviant …

Family Risk Factors And Prevalence Of Dissociative Symptoms Among Homeless And Runaway Youth, Kimberly A. Tyler, Ana Mari Cauce, Les B. Whitbeck

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Objective: To examine family risk factors associated with dissociative symptoms among homeless and runaway youth.
Method: Three hundred and twenty-eight homeless and runaway youth were interviewed using a systematic sampling strategy in metropolitan Seattle. Homeless young people were interviewed on the streets and in shelters by outreach workers in youth service agencies.
Results: The current study revealed widespread prevalence of dissociative symptoms among these young people. Multivariate analyses revealed that sexual abuse, physical abuse, and family mental health problems were all positively associated with dissociative symptoms. No gender differences were found for any of the models.
Conclusions …

Job Exit Queues: Corporate Mergers And Gender Inequality, Terceira A. Berdahl, Helen A. Moore

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Purpose: to explore the experiences of employees in a local bank merger in the United States and examine the concept of job exit queues. We introduce the concept of a job exit queue, which describes how workers position themselves or are positioned by employers to leave jobs and enter new jobs following the announcement of a corporate merger.
Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative interviews with mid-level managers, technical specialists and low status workers during the sale and merger process were conducted and coded thematically. We explore: 1) how workers and managers describe the job search as an “opportunity” or as a recurring cycle …

Social Surveys, Mary Jo Deegan

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Social surveys are the systematic collection of data on a specific subject. From approximately 1890 to 1935, social surveys in the United States often encompassed broad topics, a whole city, or a very large sample of a target population. After World War II, surveys increasingly became more quantitative, narrower in their definition of populations, and more focused. Surveys were initially relatively infrequent events and were conducted face-to-face, but surveys now permeate daily life and increasingly occur over the telephone.

The earliest social surveys were done by governments taking a census of their people. Great Britain conducted an early count of …

Hull-House Maps And Papers, Mary Jo Deegan

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Hull-House Maps and Papers (HHMP) was a groundbreaking text published in 1895 by the residents of Hull House, led by Jane Addams and Florence Kelley. They described and measured group patterns associated with immigrants, working conditions, specific laborers, labor unions, social settlements, and the function of art in the community. Women's moral agency was central to their use of social science to improve democracy and the lives of the disenfranchised.

The mapping of social and demographic characteristics of a population within a geographical area became the core methodology of sociologists at the University of Chicago during the 1920s and 1930s. …

Victims And Offenders: Accounts Of Paybacks, Invulnerability, And Financial Gain Among Homeless Youth, Kimberly A. Tyler, Katherine Johnson

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Previous research has suggested that “victim” and “offender” are not mutually exclusive categories but rather represent a homogeneous pool in which offenders are victimized and victims also offend. Little is known, however, about the specifics of the victim and offender process. The current study formally addresses the following research questions: why are some individuals at higher risk for victimization compared to others; why do some young people offend while others do not; and finally, why are criminal victims likely to retaliate? Given that homeless young people generally have high rates of offending and are also exceedingly vulnerable to crime, they …

Introduction: Charlotte Perkins Gilman’S Sociological Perspective On Ethics And Society, Michael R. Hill, Mary Jo Deegan

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Social Ethics: Sociology and the Future of Society provides a complex yet accessible statement of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's mature sociological theory of ethical life. Her perspective is welded intellectually to sociology and evolutionary thought and concretely to the well-being of children throughout the world. We have failed, writes Gilman in Social Ethics, to teach even "a simple, child-convincing ethics based on social interactions, because we have not understood sociology" (emphasis added). For Gilman, a world in which children are not loved, well fed, properly clothed, thoughtfully educated, and humanely disciplined is a world ethically at odds with logic and itself. …

Early Sexual Abuse, Street Adversity, And Drug Use Among Female Homeless And Runaway Adolescents In The Midwest, Xiaojin Chen, Kimberly A. Tyler, Les B. Whitbeck, Dan R. Hoyt

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Research on homeless and runaway adolescents has shown that this population is at high risk for illicit drug use. Though sexual abuse has been widely considered in the etiology of illicit drug use, we know less about how early sexual abuse affects young people’s decisions to run away, to use drugs, and to engage in other deviant behavior on the streets. Based on interviews with 361 female homeless and runaway adolescents in four midwestern states, the current study revealed a high prevalence of drug use, especially use of cocaine among youths with sexual abuse histories. Path analyses showed that early …

An Introduction To Harriet Martineau’S Lake District Writings, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This complation presents an engaging, insightful, and inspiring smorgasbord of essays (and one didactic tale) selected from Harriet Martineau's Lake District writings from the mid-1800s. As a source of inspiration, the English Lake District has been profitably mined by scores of writers, including Martineau. The selections included here are more or less available (usually less) in scholarly and rare book collections, but are not generally obtainable for a pleasant armchair read at home or, as Martineau would certainly encourage, to tote along in one's knapsack on a weekend ramble among the lakes and hills of Cumbria. The majority of the …

Methods And Techniques For Studying The History Of Sociology In America, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

E’ un grande privilegio parlare con voi oggi nel vostro bel paese dei metodi di ricerca per lo studio e la documentazione della storia della sociologia. La storia disciplinare e’ importante per me. L’anno scorso ho concluso il mio incarico a capo della Sezione sulla Storia della Sociologia nell’ Associazione di Sociologia Americana, quindi so bene che la storia e’ importante anche per molti dei miei colleghi. Nel 2005, l’Associazione Americana di Sociologia festeggera’ il suo contenario: di consequenza, sempre piu’ sociologi americani cominciano a porsi questioni storiche riguardo alla disciplina della sociologia. Nel presentare queste osservazioni, spero di attirare …

Harriet Martineau And The Sociology Of The American South, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Harriet Martineau (1802-1876) was the first significant woman sociologist, and was also the first methodologically competent sociologist to make systematic observations throughout the American South. Martineau’s writings on American society in the 1830s provide an enduring model of observational dedication and perseverance. Of the two and a half years that Martineau devoted to data collection in the U.S., she allotted six months to direct observation and face-to-face interviews in the southern states. From late December 1834 to early July 1835, Martineau completed first-hand observations in Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and …

Self-Mutilation And Homeless Youth: The Role Of Family Abuse, Street Experiences, And Mental Disorders, Kimberly A. Tyler, Les B. Whitbeck, Dan R. Hoyt, Kurt D. Johnson

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Self-mutilation, which is the act of deliberately harming oneself, has been overlooked in studies of homeless and runaway youth. Given their high rates of abuse and mental health disorders, which are associated with self-mutilation, homeless and runaway youth provide an ideal sample in which to investigate factors associated with self-mutilation among a nonclinical population. Based on interviews with 428 homeless and runaway youth aged 16 to 19 years in 4 Midwestern states, the current study revealed widespread prevalence of self-mutilation among these young people. Multivariate analyses indicated that sexual abuse, ever having stayed on the street, deviant subsistence strategies, and …