Sociology Commons^™

Sibling Influence On Adolescent Cigarette, Alcohol, And Marijuana Use, Benjamin G. Gibbs

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to estimate the association between sibling drug use and adolescent alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use. Research is conducted using survey data from a probability sample of 4,987 adolescents in grades 9–12 in Utah. To account for the limited frequency of drug use among respondents, Poisson regression is used to estimate models for each type of drug. In support of current literature, findings indicate that having a sibling who uses drugs increases the frequency of drug use substantially, even when peer influences are taken into account. Significant sibling associations with adolescent drug use found in …

Materialism, Perceived Financial Problems, And Marital Satisfaction, Lukas R. Dean

Theses and Dissertations

While there has been a relatively large number of studies conducted to investigate associations between financial problems and marital outcomes, little research has been done to examine possible relationships between materialistic attitudes, perceived financial problems, and marital outcomes. This study has been designed to examine a conceptual model linking materialism, perceived financial problems, and relationship satisfaction among married couples. Data obtained from 600 married heterosexual couples who took the RELATE test fit the model well. Findings indicate that wives' materialism is negatively related to husbands' marital satisfaction. Husbands' and wives' materialism is positively related with increased perception of financial problems …

The Creation And Formative Evaluation Of An Attachment-Based Parenting Education Website, April Steed

Theses and Dissertations

While there are numerous websites discussing attachment parenting in infancy, there are currently no interactive research-based websites devoted to attachment parenting throughout early childhood. To fill this need the author developed the Foundations of Parenting website (http://www.foundationsofparenting.org). Evaluation, a tool so far under-utilized by parenting education websites, is necessary for both quality control and improving websites. Thus, in addition to development of the website, the author also formatively evaluated the Foundations of Parenting program by using website-utilization tools and visitor feedback through an online survey to analyze utilization and visitor satisfaction. The website was well-used (674 unique visitors and 189 …

How Virtues And Values Affect Marital Intimacy, Natalie Jan Stevens

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to better understand how virtues and values affect marital intimacy. Ten married couples were given a marital satisfaction assessment and participated as individuals in 1-1/2 hour interviews which were audiotaped and then transcribed. Using grounded theory and also the constant comparative method, researchers were able to generate a theory involving a core theme of showing love for self and other, which strongly contributes to increased intimacy. This process is connected to living virtues and to becoming other-oriented. Two different ways of "being" were found to be connected both with showing love, living virtues, increasing …

Personality Predictors Of Relationship Satisfaction Among Engaged And Married Couples: An Analysis Of Actor And Partner Effects, Nicole L. Mead

Theses and Dissertations

With a sample of 3,436 engaged and married couples, this study explores the prediction of relationship satisfaction using the personality traits of neuroticism, depression, kindness, impulsivity, flexibility, self-esteem, and extraversion while utilizing controls for non-independent couple data in structural equation modeling. Both actor effects (the impact of an individual's personality on his or her own satisfaction) and partner effects (the impact of the partner's personality on satisfaction) are examined, including comparisons of the relative strength of each for males and females. A comparison is also made of engaged and married couples to determine if relationship status acts as a moderator. …

Beliefs, Practices, And Training In Marriage Preparation: A Comparison Between Members Of The Association Of Mormon Counselors And Psychotherapists (Amcap) And Select Protestant Clergy, Samuel L. Ashton

Theses and Dissertations

A sample of 127 members of the Association of Mormon Counselors and Psychotherapists (AMCAP) responded to a questionnaire regarding their beliefs, practices and training in premarital counseling (PMC). This study was a replication of a previous study of 226 clergy premarital counselors from four Protestant denominations by Jones, E.F., & Stahmann, R.F. (1994). The results of this study were compared with the results of the Jones & Stahmann study. Findings suggest that AMCAP members were less likely than Protestant clergy to believe that PMC should be required of all couples before marriage. AMCAP members and Protestant clergy both rated Enrichment, …

Triangulation Between Elderly Parents And Adult Children, Ryan J. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the extent of triangulation between elderly people and their adult children, and examines the relationship of triangulation with marital and individual outcomes such as problem solving, negative affective communication, time spent together, intimacy, depression, and marital satisfaction. Triangulation between adult children and elderly parents was found to be strongly related with negative outcomes for elderly parents in each of the dependent variables.

Ua1b2/1/2 Oral History, Paula Trafton, Howard Bailey

WKU Administration Documents

Interview conducted by Paula Trafton with Howard Bailey regarding his career as student and administrator at Western Kentucky University.

A Pilot Study Considering The Impact Of Husband's Internet Based Pornography Use Upon Marital Adjustment, Satisfaction, And Intimacy Within A Clinical Sample., Anthony T. Alonzo

Theses and Dissertations

With increased access and use of pornography over the internet, the association between pornography use and marital distress needed to be examined in a quantitative manner. There was a need to discover if, and or how, marital relationships are impacted by internet pornography use. Assessment instruments were used to measure internet pornography use (Internet Sex Screen Test revised for pornography), marital adjustment (Marital Adjustment Test items #1 and #14), marital satisfaction (Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale), and marital intimacy (Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships). The results of this study suggested the following; there was a significant positive relationship between the …

Personal Or Organisational Control? A Critical Perspective From The Multinational’S International Assignees, Marian Crowley-Henry, David Weir

Conference papers

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study of non-national employees of multinational organisations based in Sophia Antipolis (South of France). Here twenty-three in-depth interviews with non-nationals employed by a multinational in the area, together with contextual data regarding the particular case of Sophia Antipolis contribute to the discussion on power and control in an international, organisational context. Irrespective of the initial motivations to follow on an international career, this study highlights the tensions individuals encounter in their desire to retain their international status while seeking out a more individual, balanced, protean career, potentially beyond their current employing organisations. Extracts …

Debating The Events Of September 11th: Discursive And Interactional Dynamics In Three Online Fora, Laura Robinson

Sociology

This study examines the constituencies, patterns of interaction, and ideologies in three online fora created to discuss the events of September 11th, 2001. Drawing on comparative case studies, the research explores the frames and discursive styles used by Brazilian, French, and American participants to articulate their views about this polarizing topic. The research identifies commonalities and differences across the three cases with respect to trends in posters' participation, interaction patterns between forum participants, and the ideological content of the posts themselves. Interpretive examination of posts from the three sites elucidates linkages between modes of discourse, ideological positions, and faction membership. …

Engaging Local Non-Governmental Organizations (Ngos) In The Response To Hiv/Aids., Helen Cornman, Curt D. Grimm, Sujata Rana

Anthropology

During the past few years, a number of key donor programs have scaled up their global response to the crisis of HIV and AIDS. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the World Bank’s Multi-country HIV/AIDS Program (MAP), and other bilateral donors and charitable foundations have raised significant resources to fight HIV/AIDS. Spending on HIV/AIDS in low- and middle-income countries increased from $1 billion in 2000 to $6.1 billion …

National Estimates Of Children Missing Involuntarily Or For Benign Reasons., Andrea J. Sedlack, David Finkelhor, Heather Hammer

Crimes Against Children Research Center

Provides information on the numbers and characteristics of two groups not often recognized in the literature on missing children: children involuntarily missing because they were lost or injured and those missing because of a benign explanation such as a miscommunication or mistaken expectation. The data are from two surveys conducted in 1999 as part of the Second National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART–2). Children missing from their caretakers in circumstances with benign explanations constituted 43 percent of all missing children reported to authorities—the second largest category after those classified as runaway/thrownaway. The authors discuss the …

2005 Nebraska Rural Poll Results: Community Life And Housing In Rural Nebraska, Rebecca J. Vogt, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bruce B. Johnson, Alan J. Tomkins

Publications from the Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI)

Many rural communities are experiencing population decline. However, rural residents have continued to show a strong attachment to their communities. How do rural Nebraskans feel about their community? Are they satisfied with the services provided? Do they own their home? What is the condition of their home?

This report details 2,851 responses to the 2005 Nebraska Rural Poll, the tenth annual effort to understand rural Nebraskans’ perceptions. Respondents were asked a series of questions about their community and housing. Trends for some of these questions are examined by comparing data from the nine previous polls to this year’s results. For …

Inside Unlv, Cate Weeks, Diane Russell, Erin O'Donnell, Carol C. Harter, Mark Wallington

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

Paying The Bills Is Not Just Theory: Service Learning About A Living Wage, Nina Banks, Geoffrey Schneider, Paul Susman

Higher Education

This article discusses how to combine service learning, and spccifica!Iy a living wage research project, with radical political economy-based undergraduate economics courses to promote critical thinking, civic engagement, and active learning in students. The authors explore how instructors can integrate service learning into the teaching of political economy. In addition, the article describes the authors' experiences with living wage projects that they have implemented. The article makes the argument that the combination of experiential learning and political economics enriches the course experience for students significantly, leaving a much more lasting impression on students than a standard economics class.

What Have Bagels Got To Do...?, Michael Kula

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

“What Have Bagels Got to Do with Midwesternness?” is a creative nonfiction essay that examines the way my own “exile” from the Midwest has influenced my writing and my self-concept, and how, in turn, my writing has subsequently altered my perspective on the regional label “Midwestern.” Drawing from sources ranging from Charles Baxter to James Baldwin to the 1970’s film, Breaking Away, the essay examines how it is not only the “place” itself that shapes us as writers, but perhaps more importantly, our own filtered view of that “place.”

Quo Vadis: What Can Students Do For American Cities?, Harris Wofford

Special Topics, General

The experience of service learning can be deeply rewarding, whether the service rendered is voluntary or a required part of the curriculum; whether it is part-time or full-time (as it is in most programs of national service); whether it takes place in the community where the college or university is located, in a student's home community, or in other parts of the country-- or overseas in the peace Corps.

Not In Our Name: Reclaiming The Democratic Vision Of Small School Reform, Michelle Fine

Publications and Research

Maybe we weren’t clear. The small schools movement was never simply about size. When committed educators and community activists in New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Oakland, Boston, and Cincinnati launched the movement, they were desperately seeking alternatives to the failures of big city high schools. They fashioned a vibrant, gutsy social movement for creating democratic, warm, and intellectually provocative schools, particularly for poor and working-class youth of color.

Discovering Your Cinematic Cultural Identity, John Shelton Lawrence, Marty S. Knepper

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

This paired set explores the experience of cultural identities constructed by and experienced through popular film. The essay “Discovering Your Cinematic Cultural Identity” reflects the authors’ decades of residence in the state of Iowa and their personal irritation with the stereotypes that Hollywood regularly calls upon in evoking the American rural. We gained a new perspective on this sort of imagery when it surfaced again in Field of Dreams (1989) and The Bridges of Madison County novel (1992) and film (1995). Each of these films triggered unprecedented film tourism for the state. Through an exploration of these films and others …

The Place Of Race: Ethnicity, Location And Progress In The Fiction Of Chinua Achebe And Ralph Ellison, Harry Olufunwa

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

This paper examines the ways in which ethnicity and location intersect in selected works of fiction of Chinua Achebe and Ralph Ellison. It argues that the traceable correlation between ethnic origin and geographical location in the novels of these writers affects perceptions of and possibilities for personal and communal growth. Drawing upon Achebe’s No Longer At Ease and Ellison’s Juneteenth, the paper explores the ways in which characters and situations demonstrate the significance of ethnicity as major determinant of progress or catastrophe in multiethnic societies. It argues that the central characters of the two texts are culturally dislocated and …

Placemaking: A Democratic Project, Lynda H. Schneekloth, Robert G. Shibley

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

Democracy in a post-industrial society such as the United States is increasingly characterized as a system of governance orchestrated by the media to shape a mass of passive consumers who live in non-places. Because of the scale and structure of the political economy, we have come to understand the body politic as an adversarial system in which the primary responsibility of the citizen is to vote and consume. After 9/11, an additional alienating element, fear, has entered into our national imagination of passivity leading many people to believe that they are collectively powerless in the face of unknown terrors. If …

All The World's A Coffee Shop: Reflections On Place, Community And Identity, Anthony M. Orum

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

This essay uses a personal experience, the routine of daily activity at my local coffee shop, to illustrate the importance of places to the nature of human experience. Every day, I argue, the conversations and interactions that take place at the White Hen store nearby my house serve to reaffirm a number of important features of my life: (1) a sense of my own identity; (2) a sense of a larger community of people outside my family and close friends; (3) a sense of civility, of small kindnesses and courtesies among people who, on the face of it, seem very …

Impact Of Changes To Premiums, Cost-Sharing, And Benefits On Adult Medicaid Beneficiaries: Results From An Ongoing Study Of The Oregon Health Plan, Bill J. Wright, Matthew J. Carlson, Jeanene Smith, Tina Edlund

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

In 2003, Oregon implemented changes to its Medicaid program to cope with budget shortfalls. In addition to reducing benefits, increasing premiums, and implementing copays for a substantial portion of enrollees, the Oregon Health Plan (OHP) also eliminated premium exemptions and instituted a six-month lockout for individuals missing premium payments. In 2004, OHP rolled back some of these policies. An ongoing study of the impact of OHP’s program changes finds that, after the initial cost-sharing increases and benefit reductions, nearly two-thirds of individuals surveyed had lost their coverage, many directly resulting from increased costs. Those who left because of premiums and …

Ensinando As Crianças Através De Centenas De Linguagens [Teaching Children Through “Hundreds Of Languages.”], Carolyn P. Edwards

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

Os sistemas simbólicos, ou "linguagens infantis", sao importantes para as crianças porque elas possuem muitas formas diferentes de aprender e pensar.

Experiêcias mais ricas, variadas e multidimensionais sào mais memoráveis do que experiêcias simplificadas, uniformes e unidimensionais.

O mundo contemprâneo exige que os adultos utilizem uma abordagem integrada dos símbolos.

Corporal Punishment And Its Relation To Race, Psychological Well-Being, And Parental Relationship, Michelle P. Kravitz

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Previous research has documented the numerous negative effects associated with corporal punishment (Gershoff, 2002). The present study examined whether experiencing corporal punishment as a child is related to one's perception of the legitimacy of corporal punishment, race, the nature of the parent-child relationship (i.e., biological parent versus step-parent), and psychological well-being. Compared to college students who did not experience corporal punishment during childhood, college students who experienced higher levels of corporal punishment are expected to report that corporal punishment is a more acceptable form of discipline. College students who grew up with a stepfather were expected to be more likely …

Becoming Culturally Responsive Teachers Through Service-Learning: A Case Study Of Five Novice Classroom Teachers, Elinor L. Brown, Bobby R. Howard

Service Learning, General

In the effort to augment teacher candidate education beyond text-based direct instruction, universities and teacher preparation programs are incorporating more field-based interactions through which teacher candidates can master skills and reinforce pedagogy through experience. The term "service-learning" was first used by the Southern Regional Education Board in 1969 to describe "the accomplishment of tasks that meet genuine human needs in combination with conscious educational growth" (Staton, Giles & Cruz, 1999).

The Determinants Of Academic Performance Of African American Males, Marvin K. Hall

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

In this research on the academic performance of African American males I used data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study: Base Year 1988 to examine the factors that effect academic performance of one small group, the African American male. Independent variables that were used were SES, self-efficacy, self-esteem, two cultural variables, marital status of parents, and discipline. After controlling for SES two variables were related to GPA. The higher the self-efficacy of African American males the higher their GPA and the more discipline problems they had the lower their GPA. Results of this research identify the need to address cultural …

Cooperative Conservation: Increasing Capacity Through Community Partnerships -- Interagency Volunteer Program & Cooperative Conservation Program: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending June 30, 2005, Margaret N. Rees

Get Outdoors Nevada

• 1,289+ records are now loaded into volunteer database.
• 150 volunteers registered for events on the interagency website.
• Three interagency events were successfully completed: April 2 – Red Rock Day at Red Rock Canyon Conservation Area; April 15 – Stewardship Saturday at Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge; June 4 – National Trails Day at Spring Mountains National Recreation Area.
• 25 interagency volunteer events are identified for year-two.
• Volunteer recognition program is underway.
• Volunteer training program syllabus is under development.
• Potential funding sources are identified (grants).

Take Pride In America In Southern Nevada: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending June 30, 2005, Margaret N. Rees

Anti-littering Programs

• Search for project manager commenced in January 2005, with initial review of applications occurring in February 2005
• Comprehensive review of qualified candidates conducted March 2005
• Interviews with four candidates were conducted in early April 2005
• Douglas Joslin, Jr., approved by federal managers in May 2005 and hired as program manager, effective July 11, 2005
• Regional Take Pride in America public service announcements taped May 24, 2005
• Meeting held June 29, 2005, to discuss national and regional roll-out of new Take Pride PSAs