Sociology Commons^™

New York State’S Rural Counties Have Higher Covid-19 Mortality Risk, Shannon M. Monnat, Yue Sun

Population Health Research Brief Series

As New York’s regions move through their various phases of reopening businesses and recreations activities, policymakers and residents should be mindful of the underlying health vulnerabilities and the higher COVID-19 mortality risk in several of NY’s rural counties. Is your county at high risk?

U.S. Population Growth Slows, But Diversity Grows, Kenneth M. Johnson

Carsey Publications

In this brief, author Kenneth Johnson reports that in 2019 the U.S. population grew at the lowest rate in a century because there were fewer births, more deaths, and less immigration. Fertility rates diminished regardless of race or Hispanic origin and immigration declines were also widespread. As a result, the growth rate of both the minority and non-Hispanic White population diminished. Yet, the racial diversity of the population continued to grow, according to Census Bureau estimates released on June 25, 2020.

This increasing diversity reflects two important demographic trends. The minority population is growing, and the non-Hispanic White population is …

Do Education System Characteristics Moderate The Socioeconomic, Gender And Immigrant Gaps In Math And Science Achievement?, Katerina Bodovsk, Ismael Munoz, Soo-Yong Byun, Volha Chykina

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Using data from the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study for 45 countries, we examined the size of socioeconomic, gender, and immigrant status related gaps, and their relationships with education system characteristics, such as differentiation, standardization, and proportion of governmental spending on education. We find that higher socioeconomic status is positively and significantly associated with higher math and science achievement; immigrant students lag behind their native peers in both math and science, with first generation students faring worse than second generation; and girls show lower math performance than boys. A higher degree of differentiation makes socioeconomic gaps larger …

Reported Crime In Map Communities Compared With Other Nyc Areas. Map Evaluation Update Number 5., Jeffrey A. Butts, Sheyla A. Delgado, Richard A. Espinobarros, Gina Moreno

Publications and Research

This is the fifth of six Evaluation Updates reporting interim results from John Jay College’s evaluation of the New York City Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety (MAP). The study analyzes public safety outcomes in 17 public housing developments participating in the MAP initiative and finds meaningful and sometimes statistically significant improvements.

White ‘Alliahs:’ The Creation & Perpetuation Of The ‘Wise Indian’ Trope, Jessica Mehta

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

Search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine auto-fill features allows us to see how people search online, and the words they use, in real-time. Anonymous querying equates to anonymity, and by nature when we input key words or key phrases in search engines like Google we use succinct, brief, and to-the-point queries. What does this mean for how we search for Native American or “Indian” results? A 2019 SEO and keyword/phrase analysis revealed that the notorious “wise Indian trope” (similar to the “magical negro” trope) is still very prevalent today, particularly when comparing the keyword “wise” paired with non-Native races. …

Gender Disparities In Depression In Elderly Puerto Ricans, Arnaldo Perez-Negron

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

Past research has shown considerable differences in depression levels in elderly Hispanics. Specifically, past studies have found high levels of depressive symptoms among elderly Hispanic women, particularly those with a Puerto Rican cultural background. However, few studies have analyzed gender as a predictor of depression among elderly Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico. Utilizing data from the Puerto Rican Elderly Health Conditions survey, this study found elderly Puerto Rican women to have higher levels of depression relative to men and gender differences in the factors associated with depression. This study aims to close the knowledge gap regarding gender disparities in depression …

A Content Analysis On The Phases Of Emergency Management For Hurricane Maria In Puerto Rico, Jose Rivera

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

The destruction caused by Hurricane Maria challenged the emergency management agencies in Puerto Rico. More than a month after the storm, most of the island remained without electricity, and full recovery has taken several months, if not years. This study explores the four phases of emergency management (mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery) for Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico from the perspective of FEMA and AEMEAD. Data comes from a content analysis of official communications, news reports, and social media postings from FEMA, AEMEAD, and other agencies responsible for emergency management in Puerto Rico. Results suggest that the magnitude of the …

Higher Education & Economic Mobility In Nevada, Ember Smith, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Higher Education

Using methods from both the Opportunity Insights Project and the Brookings Opportunity Engines Project, this fact sheet examines Nevada’s public higher education system and attempts to measure the success of these institutions in creating economic mobility opportunities for lower- and middle-income students. Only colleges with over 200 students from each of the 1980-1982 birth cohorts are included in the Brookings Opportunity Engine’s analysis. This fact sheet follows suit and focuses on only those in Nevada: University of Nevada, Reno (UNR); University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV); Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC); College of Southern Nevada (CSN); and Western Nevada College …

Aces And Substance Use: Understanding The Influence Of Childhood Experiences On Substance Use In Adolescence Across Race And Ethnicity, Tacey Micole Matheson Shurtliff

Theses and Dissertations

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) affect numerous outcomes in adulthood, but relatively few studies examine their implications for adolescents. Understanding the effects of ACEs is important since adolescent behaviors affect subsequent life course milestones and transitions. One area of the ACEs research that is deficient involves adolescent substance use. In addition, there is a paucity of studies addressing whether the association between ACEs and substance use differs by race/ethnicity. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, this study aims to fill these gaps by (a) examining whether adolescents who experience more ACEs tend to be at higher risk …

What Do We Know About What To Do With Dams? How Knowledge Shapes Public Opinion About Their Removal In New Hampshire, Simone Chapman, Catherine M. Ashcraft, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Kevin H. Gardner

Carsey Publications

In this brief, authors Simone Chapman, Catherine Ashcraft, Lawrence Hamilton, and Kevin Gardner report the results of an October 2018 Granite State Poll that asked 607 New Hampshire residents how much they have heard, and their thoughts, concerning the question of whether older dams on New Hampshire rivers should be removed for ecological or safety reasons, or whether the dams should be kept.

Most people admitted they have not heard or read about this issue, but at the same time they agreed that dams could be removed in at least some cases. The more people heard or read about the …

Morality Politics: Drug Use And The Catholic Church In The Philippines, Jayeel Cornelio, Gideon Lasco

Development Studies Faculty Publications

This article traces the trajectory of the Catholic Church’s discourses on drug use in the Philippines since the first time a statement was made in the 1970s. By drawing on official statements by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), it argues that shifts in emphasis have taken place through the years: the destruction of the youth, attack on human dignity, and then social moral decay. Collectively, they emanate from an institutional concern for peace and order. But they also reflect the moral panic around drug use that has been around for decades, which, on several …

Is There A Difference Between Democrat And Republican States In The Number Of Female Students Who Experienced Cyberbullying?, Wayne Davis

Lincoln Memorial University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

In the United States, cyberbullying has become a major public health concern. Because there is a difference between the Democrat Party and the Republican Party on their philosophies involving laws and government interventions related to the control of electronic communications, it is important to know if there is a difference between political partisanship and cyberbullying. Data were collected in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017 using a three-stage cluster sample design, which produced a nationally representative sample of students in grades 9–12 who attended public and private schools. Initially, this study employed Poisson regression, which is a parametric statistic, in an …

“You’Re Almost In This Place That Doesn’T Exist”: The Impact Of College In Prison As Understood By Formerly Incarcerated Students From The Northeastern United States, Hilary Binda, Jill D. Weinberg, Nora Maetzener, Carolyn Rubin

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

This qualitative study examines the immediate and lasting impact of liberal arts higher education in prison from the perspective of former college-in-prison students from the Northeastern United States. Findings obtained through semi-structured interviews with formerly incarcerated people are presented in the following three areas: self-confidence and agency, interpersonal relationships, and capacity for civic leadership. This study further examines former students’ reflections on the relationship between education and human transformation and begins to benchmark college programming with attention to the potential for such transformation. The authors identify four characteristics critical to a program’s success: academic rigor, the professor's respect for students, …

Social-Emotional Outcomes In Children With Hydrocephalus, Vanessa L. Wall

Theses and Dissertations

Hydrocephalus can impact all areas of health, including physical, cognitive, and social-emotional functioning. The social-emotional health of children who have had surgery for their hydrocephalus is not well characterized. This study examined social-emotional and behavioral functioning using the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, Third Edition (BASC-3) and the Hydrocephalus Outcome Questionnaire (HOQ) in children aged 5-17 years old. BASC-3 parent report scores were compared to the BASC-3 normative sample using one-sample t-tests to evaluate overall social-emotional functioning. BASC-3 scores were correlated with the social-emotional domain of the HOQ using Pearson's r to determine if the HOQ accurately captures the social-emotional …

Client Experiences Of A Brief Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback Protocol, Sheilagh Fox

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the experiences of clients who completed a brief heart rate variability biofeedback protocol. The purposes of this study were to (1) learn about client experiences of biofeedback because almost no previous research has done so and (2) explore the potential role of common factors in biofeedback. Fifteen clients were interviewed and their data analyzed according to the methods of Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR; Hill, 2012). CQR relies on the use of group consensus to construct representations of participant experiences and categorize themes within the data. The results of the study showed that participants generally experienced the HRVB+ …

A Heart Of Gold

DePaul Magazine

An interview with alumnus, retired insurance executive and DePaul Life Trustee Bertram ("Bert") Scott, chairman of the American Heart Association (AHA). He hopes to help focus attention on the social determinants of health, increase research, address vaping illnesses and foster diversity communities to get involved with the AHA.

Domestic Work, Sexual Abuse, And Exploitation In Tanzania, James K. Matheka, Elizabeth Shayo, Annabel Erulkar

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Domestic work is characterized by excessive working hours, extremely low pay or no pay at all, and conditions that make the profession exploitive in many cases. Evidence is emerging that domestic work is a feeder profession for sex work. One study of more than 2,000 commercial sex workers in Ethiopia found that 42 percent were former domestic workers. However, little is known about transitions to commercial sex work or commercial sexual exploitation in Tanzania. The objective of the research detailed in this brief was to expand the understanding of child domestic workers and commercial sex workers/girls who are commercially sexually …

Homelessness During Covid-19: Understanding And Preventing Risk Of Virus Spread In This Vulnerable Population, Ashley Van Slyke

Population Health Research Brief Series

Individuals experiencing homelessness are older and have a lower life expectancy compared to the average American. This brief describes how individuals who are homeless are experiencing COVID-19 and efforts by various cities and organizations to prevent transmission.

How Taiwanese Death Rituals Have Adapted For Families Living In The Us, Pei-Lin Yu

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Taiwanese people living in the United States face a dilemma when loved ones die. Many families worry that they might not be able to carry out proper rituals in their new homeland.

As a biracial Taiwanese-American archaeologist living in Idaho and studying in Taiwan, I am discovering the many faces of Taiwan’s blended cultural heritage drawn from the mix of peoples that have inhabited the island over millennia.

Albuquerque Journal Interviews Maryam Ahranjani, Many Want Police Out Of Schools Across Nm, Maryam Ahranjani, Shelby Perea

Faculty Scholarship

In Albuquerque, University of New Mexico School of Law associate professor Maryam Ahranjani and Hope Pendleton, a board member of the Black Law Student Association at UNM, are saying now is the time to remove officers from schools.

“There’s a lot of unfortunate downstream negative repercussions for children from having police officers in schools,” Ahranjani said.

Pendleton and Ahranjani helped write a letter to APS Superintendent Raquel Reedy and her leadership team that says funds earmarked for the APS Police Department would be better spent addressing this counselor-to-student ratio and investing in other personnel.

“Reallocating funds away from law enforcement …

Mothers Of Children With Dyslexia Share The Protection, “In-Betweenness,” And The Battle Of Living With A Reading Disability: A Feminist Autoethnography, Christine Woodcock

The Qualitative Report

In order to shed personalized light upon some of the confusions surrounding dyslexia, this study draws upon critical disability studies to share the stories of mothers of children with dyslexia. This feminist autoethnography shares the voice of the researcher alongside interviews with 5 participants, all mothers of children with dyslexia, who were in their 40s, and ethnically and socioeconomically diverse. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, results illustrated that the children inhabited an “in-betweenness” in their disability, in the ways dyslexia was less visual and therefore misunderstood. Likewise, the children presented a great deal of resistance in their learning, which was later …

Use Of Mobile Health In Infant And Young Child Nutrition: A Formative Study In Rural Maharashtra, Samreen Sadaf Khan Dr., Archana Patel Dr., Amrita Puranik Ms., Priyanka Kuhite Dr., Yamini Pusdekar Dr., Michael J. Dibley Dr., Ashraful Alam Dr.

The Qualitative Report

Undernutrition is a major public health problem for under 5 years of age children in India. Approximately 41% and 21% of under 5 years of age children are stunted and wasted respectively. Despite the known importance of age appropriate infant and young child feeding practices for child nutrition, the rates of these practices remain poor in India. The major determinants for inappropriate IYCF practices are beliefs and knowledge of parents and caregivers. These can be effectively addressed through counselling by mobile Health technology as mobile phones are widely available and have a high penetration across the country. This formative research …

Removing The Mysteries Of Research Proposals: A Review Of Steven. R. Terrell’S Writing A Proposal For Your Dissertation: Guidelines And Examples, Richard H. Rogers

The Qualitative Report

Close your eyes and reflect on that first moment you entered a research or content-based course and discovered that you would be writing and presenting a research proposal to a researcher to ask for assistance on conducting a study that would solve a current curriculum issue or increase student achievement. Terrell’s (2016) book provides the knowledge and skills students need in an introductory research course, a research proposal course, or a content course that embeds research. Terrell guides students through their proposal and provides samples for students to review and apply to their work.

Dinner Table Syndrome: A Phenomenological Study Of Deaf Individuals’ Experiences With Inaccessible Communication, David R. Meek

The Qualitative Report

Conversations at the dinner table typically involve reciprocal and contingent turn-taking. This context typically includes multiple exchanges between family members, providing opportunities for rich conversations and opportunities for incidental learning. Deaf individuals who live in hearing non-signing homes often miss out on these exchanges, as typically hearing individuals use turn-taking rules that differ from those commonly used by deaf individuals. Hearing individuals’ turn-taking rules include use of auditory cues to get a turn and to cue others when a new speaker is beginning a turn. Given these mechanisms, hearing individuals frequently interrupt each other—even if they are signing. When deaf …

Contradictory Selves: An Investigation Of Identity Performance In A Dance Leisure Space, Bayleigh Cragun

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Identity is a constantly shifting performance of self, occasionally complicated when outward appearance of the self-performer doesn’t match the manner (behavior). This contradictory performance of self is most obvious when connected to a racial group identity, such as in dance leisure spaces. However, previous research on identity performance and critical race studies in dance leisure spaces has not investigated contradictory identities. As a participant-researcher in a black dance space at a predominantly white institution (PWI), the BYU Step Team, I investigated how non-black participants navigate contradictory identities. Using a dramaturgical perspective to analyze individual identity performance and a critical race …

Less Than Half Of Racially-Motivated Homicides Result In Official Hate Crime Charges, Jeff Gruenewald, Katie Ratcliff

Research Projects

Background: On February 23, 2020, Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was gunned down while jogging near his Georgia home. Portions of the physical altercation were caught on camera by one of the three men charged in the murder. The shooter reportedly uttered a racial epithet at Arbery as he lay in the street dying. Georgia is one of the four states without hate crime laws in the United states, but the FBI is currently investigating the shooting as a potential hate crime.

5 Reasons Police Officers Should Have College Degrees, Leana A. Bouffard, Gaylene Armstrong

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Following several deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police, President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order on June 16 that calls for increased training and credentialing to reduce the use of excessive force by police.

The order did not mention the need for police to get a college education, even though higher education was identified in the 2015 President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing as one of six effective ways to reduce crime and build better relations between police and the communities they serve.

As researchers who specialize in crime and punishment, we see …

Treatment Engagement And Effectiveness Using An Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy At A University Counseling Center, Meredith S. Pescatello

Theses and Dissertations

Mental health disorders are a leading cause of disability and mortality worldwide. Mental health services do not meet demand due to accessibility issues, financial burden, and increasing needs. Technology can provide affordable, accessible mental health care and some research suggests internet-delivered Cognitive Behavior Therapy (iCBT) may be an effective treatment. In iCBTs, participants typically complete Cognitive Behavior Therapy modules and videos and are supported by a therapist. Advantages of iCBT over face-to-face therapy include lower cost, no travel time, easy access, no waitlists, and trackable progress. To our knowledge there have been no naturalistic studies of iCBT programs. Therefore, this …

Long Distance Interaction In Viejo Period Casas Grandes, Jaron Troy Davidson

Theses and Dissertations

This research addresses how interregional interaction changed between the Viejo period (AD 700-1200) and Medio period (AD 1200-1450) in northwest Chihuahua, Mexico. Non-locally procured or created artifacts, features, and iconographic elements are used as proxy evidence for past long-distance relationships. Data available in technical reports and other publications concerning these materials in Viejo period contexts and a sample of excavated Medio period sites are synthesized and presented. The data are used to create a geospatial dataset and distribution maps with quantities and contextual information for each of the nonlocal materials. I argue that interaction and social networks with long-distance neighbors …

Art Adherence Among Men Who Have Sex With Men Living With Hiv: Key Challenges And Opportunities, Dexter R. Voisin

Faculty Scholarship

Purpose of Review: In the USA, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) are disproportionately affected by HIV. High levels of adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) can dramatically improve outcomes for persons living with HIV and reduce the risk of HIV transmission to others. Yet, there are numerous individual, social, and structural barriers to optimal ART adherence. Many of these factors disproportionately impact Black MSM and may contribute to their poorer rates of ART adherence. This review synthesizes the key challenges and intervention opportunities to improve ART adherence among MSM in the USA. Recent Findings: Key …