Sociology Commons^™

Home Cookin’: The Mechanisms That Affect Child Obesity, Collin Flake, Dr. Renata Forste

Journal of Undergraduate Research

After careful consideration and several discussions with my faculty advisor about potential projects, I set out to tackle the problem of child obesity. I began my project by extensively reviewing previous literature on the issue. Child obesity is rapidly becoming one of the most prevalent health concerns in the U.S. In fact, the World Health Organization estimates nearly a quarter of U.S. adolescents are overweight or obese, and projected numbers suggest a dramatic raise in the future (Morrill and Chin, 2004). Childhood obesity rates are particularly worrisome in the Southern region of the United States, where 23% of children suffer …

The Consolidation Of The Consociational Democracy In Lebanon: The Challenges To Democracy In Lebanon, Micheline Germanos Ghattas

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation looks at democracy in Lebanon, a country that has a pluralistic society with many societal cleavages. The subject of this study is the consolidation of democracy in Lebanon, described by Arend Lijphart as a "consociational democracy". The research question and sub-question posed are:

1- How consolidated is democracy in Lebanon?

2- What are the challenges facing the consolidation of democracy in Lebanon?

The preamble of the 1926 Lebanese Constitution declares the country to be a parliamentary democratic republic. The political regime is a democracy, but one that is not built on the rule of the majority in numbers, …

The Shortcomings Of A "Diverse" College Campus, Chelsea E. Broe

SURGE

“What is the diversity like at Gettysburg College?” As a tour guide, I get asked this question a lot. It’s a tricky question to answer: On one hand, I know that this is probably the family’s way of inquiring about race on campus without having to use such a taboo word, but on the other, my Diversity Peer Educator training chimes in and I want to challenge my questioner’s assumptions about what diversity even means. [excerpt]

Email Is For Old People – Lol!, Tom Cavanagh

UCF Forum

My 13-year-old son is a Boy Scout. He is supposed to frequently send and read email messages to arrange scoutmaster conferences and patrol activities. He has two different email accounts that I set up for him.

認識歷史 承傳文化 : 嶺南大學「文化承傳計劃 : 服務研習藝行大使」, Office Of Service-Learning, Lingnan University

OSL Supplement 新聞特刊

原載於2013年8月28日《星島日報》。

Originally published in "Sing Tao Daily" 28th Aug 2013.

Fathers’ Role From A Ukrainian Perspective, Sara C. Lambert, Dr. David C. Dollahite

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Dear Dad, It’s been twenty years since we last hugged, talked, or even had a brotherly shot of vodka. The pain I experienced growing up rings out from my heart as I recall the time we never had together. You worked hard to give us a life and free us from the bondage our people have lived in for many years. You are my father. Why don’t I remember the good times gone by?

Like Father, Like God: A Study Of Mate Selection Among Young Mormon Couples, April Mitchell, Kelly Welker, Amy Whisenant, Dr. Thomas B. Holman

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In the social sciences, qualitative research methods have recently become widely used due to the difficulty of measuring social, phenomena quantitatively. Thus, our analyses were qualitative, following the grounded theory method as articulated by Strauss and Corbin (1990). The steps in this theory dictate that the researcher first forms a preliminary hypothesis, then allows the emerging data to either nullify or ratify the hypothesis. If the data does not support the hypothesis, the hypothesis must be changed. We found that the flexibility of this method allowed us to conduct our research with a mind open to various interpretations of the …

Variance In Patient Access To Support Persons By Race/Ethnicity And Language Preference: An Analysis Of Patient Survey Data, Andrew J. Jager, Matthew K. Wynia

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Regulatory and accreditation organizations have advocated open visitation policies and allowance of support persons of patients’ choosing, but it is unknown if support is allowed equitably. Data from hospitalized patients were analyzed to determine access to support persons, stratified by patient-reported race/ethnicity, language, sex, age, and education. A multivariate regression model was constructed using race and language, controlling for site and patient sex, education and age. Additionally, sites’ policies explicitly allowing support persons were correlated to reports of allowance of support persons. Among 1,196 respondents, 17% reported not being allowed a support person or being unsure. African American patients had …

Beyond The Yellow Brick Road: Queer Localization In The Age Of Anita Bryant, 1974-1980, Stewart John Van Cleve

Dissertations and Theses

Collective memories of gay rights in the late 1970s offer a conflicted portrait of Anita Bryant, an infamous anti-gay personality who inspired, organized, or funded four anti-gay referendums between 1976 and 1978. I employ J. Jack Halberstam's concept of "metronormativity" in an analysis of campaigns that failed to preserve local gay rights laws in Miami and Eugene, the first and last of Bryant's four "target cities." I use L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz as a metaphor to compare the beginning of Bryant's role as a leader in Miami to her subsequent role as a specter of national controversy in …

Division Of Labor Within The Household: The Experience Of Bosnian Immigrant Women In Portland, Oregon, Miro Paljevic

Dissertations and Theses

This research study examines the impact of international migration of household labor for Bosnian immigrant women living in Portland, Oregon. Bosnia is a society with enduring patriarchal traditions which assume that women are in charge of doing household chores. Men are in charge of providing for the family monetarily. Many Bosnian families migrated to the U.S. in the mid 1990's in order to escape the war in Bosnia. In this study I interview 10 of these Bosnian women, concerning the division of labor in their homes in Bosnia and their homes in U.S. After migrating to the U.S. the amount …

The Effects Of Offender Age And Offender-Victim Relationship On Modus Operandi Strategies To Lure The Victim, Hayley Lauren Tews

Dissertations and Theses

Research on the modus operandi (“method of operation”) of child sexual abuse (CSA) offenders has been useful in informing successful prevention programs (LeClerc, 2009). However, a gap in the literature regarding the strategies offenders use to lure potential CSA victims still remains. The present study seeks to examine the effects of offender-victim relationship and offender age on the use of strategies to lure victims for the purpose of committing CSA. Data for this study is taken from a larger investigation which included 854 identified adolescent and adult CSA offenders from nine different states. A 2 X 2 MANCOVA analysis revealed …

Porch Culture: The Stoop Of Entitlement, Marina K. Crouse

SURGE

To the class of 2017:

Welcome to Gettysburg. Welcome to the next four years of your life. Welcome to the school where you spend vast amounts of time at or trying to get into a Fraternity House. Welcome to the school plagued by porch culture. [excerpt]

Substance Abuse In Adolescent Literature, Megan Rogers, Dr. Sarah M. Coyne

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Over the past 50 years the effects of being exposed to questionable material in the media has been studied. During this time, a large body of research has accumulated which suggests that exposure to behaviors such as substance abuse, sexuality, violence, and other forms of aggression have an impact on the behavior of the consumer and how they view the world. These effects have been studied and found to be fairly consistent among various forms of media such as music, movies, video games, and television. Although a great deal of research has been conducted on the subject, hardly any studies …

Negotiations Of Household Labor And Child Care And Perceptions Of Fairness Across The Transition To Parenthood: A Longitudinal Study, Brandon Mcdaniel

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The birth of a couple’s first child brings about more profound changes and challenges to the family unit than any other developmental stage (Vessey & Knauth, 2001). This transition has been associated with a deterioration of couple communication, sexual intimacy, and overall marital satisfaction with an increase in conflict (Cowan, 1995; Belsky & Pensky, 1988). A major contributor to the dramatic changes accompanying parenthood is the increase in household labor and child care responsibilities (Bond, Galinsky, & Swanberg, 1998; Cowan & Cowan, 1992). Conflicts over participation in household labor and perceptions of fairness in the home have been identified as …

The Affect Of Marital Quality On Father Involvement With Children, Jessica Miner

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The study of father involvement is a fairly new trend in research. Lamb (2000) suggested that we could define father involvement in behavior terms. These behaviors include: engagement, accessibility, and responsibility (Lamb, 2000). Fathers who are positively and behaviorally participating in these three components have, by definition, high involvement with their children. With increasing attention to the study of fathers, research has found that father involvement is a critical and unique element in the development of children: for example, higher levels of involvement influences early cognitive, language, emotional, and social development (Roggman, Boyce, Cook, Christiansen, & Jones, 2004). It is …

Helping Willing Hands: Educating Single Mothers To Create Skills-Based Resumes, Kiel Willmore, Dr. Maureen Rice

Journal of Undergraduate Research

I had two main objectives for my creative project when I received an ORCA grant earlier this year. First, the project was aimed towards helping local single mothers, who not having the chance to obtain a secondary education, create skills-based resumes rather than education or experience-based resumes in order to help them obtain greater career options. I was hoping that by providing such service, it would not only help lift the community around us, but that it would bless the lives of single mothers’ families and help bolster them towards more fruitful careers.

Assessment Of Rigour In Published Nursing Intervention Studies That Use Observational Methods, Esther Coker, Jenny Ploeg, Sharon Kaasalainen, Anita Fisher

The Qualitative Report

Unstructured observation involving “going into the field” to describe and analyze what is seen and heard, may be an underutilized method in nursing research. The role of the observer, the nature of the observations, data sources, systematic recording and analysis of observations, appropriate analysis of the data, and corroboration of findings are important considerations when ensuring rigour in observational methods. However, the description of observational techniques and methods provided in published accounts of qualitative research is sparse, and it is therefore difficult to evaluate the truthfulness, credibility, and trustworthiness of many research studies. Observational methods can address discrepancies between what …

Using Metaphor Analysis: Mip And Beyond, Rod Pitcher

The Qualitative Report

Metaphor analysis is a way of obtaining understanding of a text by identifying and analysing the metaphors used in it. Metaphor analysis, as usually described, uses the researcher’s intuition as a means of identifying the metaphors. MIP, the Metaphor Identification Procedure, uses a more valid and repeatable way of finding the metaphors. MIP may be applied in a way that will produce a quantitative or qualitative result. As a result, the application of MIP links quantitative and qualitative research and their results through one method of identifying the metaphors.

Analysis And Conception Of Chinese Cruise Ship Tourism, Runzi Cai

Maritime Safety & Environment Management Dissertations (Dalian)

No abstract provided.

Health And Social Problems Associated With Prescription Opioid Misuse Among A Diverse Sample Of Substance-Using Msm, Mance E. Buttram, Steven P. Kurtz, Hilary L. Surratt, Maria A. Levi-Minzi

CAHSS Faculty Articles

This study examines associations between prescription opioid misuse and demographics, substance use, sexual behavior, and related health and social problems. Baseline data were collected between 2008 and 2010 from 515 high risk men who have sex with men, ages 18–55, in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale metropolitan area who reported heavy substance use and HIV risk in the past 90 days. Prescription opioid misuse was associated with other substance use, drug injection, substance dependence, and history of arrest. Implications, limitations, and directions for future study are discussed.

Fearless: Maurice Phiri, Maurice W. Phiri

SURGE

As the class of 2017 joins Gettysburg College, we recognize first-year student, Maurice Wezi Phiri, who already has already showed his fearless commitment to social justice. [excerpt]

Do Grandparents Matter? The Relationship Between Emotional Closeness And Adolescent Prosocial Behavior, Jami Jackson, Dr. Jeremy Yorgason

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Grandparental emotional closeness is important for both grandparents and grandchildren (e.g. Bowers & Myers, 1999; Drew & Silverstein, 2007; Crosnoe & Elder, 2002). However, in many of the studies given, the measure of intergenerational closeness has come from the grandparent (e.g. Fingerman, 2004; Drew & Silverstein, 2007). In cases where the measure has come from the perspective of the grandchild, much of the data have been collected from college‐aged young adults (Dubas, 2001; Harwood, 2001). The purpose of this study is to measure adolescents’ reports of emotional closeness to a grandparent, and to study the relationship between grandparental closeness and …

Pornography Use In Non-Clinical Couples: Basic Frequencies From The Flourishing Families Project, Stephanie Blickfeldt, Dr. Randal D. Day

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Purpose Pundits, popular press, political groups, and religious organizations make the claim that the current rate of pornography use is a determinant to society and individuals in family life (Kretchmer & Carveth, 2001). Due to the concerns expressed by such figures and my own personal concerns with the seemingly increasing rates of pornography use through the internet, my professor and I found it important to explore its actual presence. Through this venture, I was personally responsible for completing an extensive review of literature to discover what past social science research has contributed to this subject.

The Wired Generation: Academic And Social Outcomes, Wade Jacobsen, Dr. Renata Forste

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Electronic media (EM) include social networking sites (SNS), instant messaging (IM), text messaging, email, television and movies, and video and online games. Though the use of these devices has recently exploded among college students, little research has been conducted to explore the influence they have on academic performance and face to face social interaction. We addressed this gap in the literature using survey research methods. First, we constructed an internet survey using Qualtrics online survey software. We distributed the survey, including a short questionnaire and three day time log, to all entry level and transfer students in their first year …

Are We Making A Difference? The Effects Of Club Membership On Youth Attitudes And Behavior, Collin Flake, Dr. Renata Forste

Journal of Undergraduate Research

After several discussions with my faculty mentor and a thorough review of the existing research, I set out to examine the effectiveness of after school programs in Utah, specifically the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Greater Salt Lake area. The purpose of my research is twofold. The first is to identify the complex behavioral, academic, and mental and physical health issues that challenge youth from disadvantaged backgrounds. The second is to evaluate the effectiveness of current community programs in addressing these issues.

Ua1b1/7 Invitation To Health Sciences Complex Dedication, Wku Special Events

WKU Administration Documents

Invitation to dedication of The Medical Center - WKU Helath Sciences Complex facility.

Teaching Kindness To Parents Of School Children In Paraguay, Mark L. Elliott, Wesley R. Burr

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In May of 1996, I traveled to South America to teach a family life education course to parents in Paraguay. In the months preceding the trip, I sent packets of information to various public secondary schools in the area around the capital of Asuncion, offering a family enrichment course at no cost. After selecting a school, arrangements were made for school administrators to provide a classroom and needed materials for instruction.

What Lies Ahead: An Exploration Of Future Orientation, Self-Control, And Delinquency, Samantha S. Clinkinbeard

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Self-control has been consistently linked to antisocial behavior and though low self-control makes delinquency more likely, neither the findings nor the theory suggests that low self-control necessitates participation in such behavior. There remains a shortage of research on those situational factors or individual characteristics that might lessen the effects of low self-control on antisocial behavior. Future orientation is one such characteristic that can have implications for the control of behavior. The purpose of the current study was to explore the independent and interactive effects of future orientation and low self-control on delinquency using data from Wave 1 of the National …

Longitudinal Effects Of Family Structure Changes On The Academic Performance Of High School Students, Varden E. Hadfield, Dr. Joseph A. Olsen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Extensive cross-sectional research has examined marital status and family composition and their effects on academic performance. Many cross-sectional studies have found moderate correlations between family structure and both grades and test scores. A few studies have found when race and socioeconomic status are controlled, correlations remain for only certain family types. However, after a thorough library computer index search and Internet National Educational Longitudinal Study index search, ill studies located were cross-sectional and focused on specific aspects of family structure, without time order data to provide evidence for causation.

Six Months In: We Surge On, Laura J. Koenig, Emily M. Lindholm, Hannah M. Frantz, Elizabeth A. Rupert

SURGE

Steve Jobs created Apple in a garage. Facebook emerged out of a college dorm room. And so, like all good (and equally famous) things, the idea for Surge began in the Plank basement.

As seniors, and admittedly all bonafide social justice enthusiasts, we wanted to expand the movement at Gettysburg College and leave our mark. [excerpt]