Family, Life Course, and Society Commons^™

Experiencing Romantic Loss In College: The Role Of Social Support On Mental Health, Keirstin Harkleroad

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The loss of a romantic partner can be a significant life event in one’s life. Breakups vary in intensity and length, but any strong enough bond being broken creates a life event. Pearlin's Stress Process model posits that in the face of a life event, such as the loss of a romantic partner, social-psychological resources can buffer the adverse effects of stressors on mental health. This study focuses on the resource of various sources and types of social support to gain an understanding of how individuals cope with a breakup during the already-stressful life stage of college. Using thematic analysis …

“Disbelieving Black Women To Death”; The “Double Jeopardy”: Racism And Sexism Affects Black Women’S Access To And Quality Of Care During Pregnancy, Birth, And Postpartum, Madeline St. Clair

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

This paper explores possible reasons why Black women in the United States experience a higher maternal mortality rate than their white counterparts. Using books, articles, journals, documentaries, personal experiences and stories of Black women and mothers, I argue that barriers from the societal to the individual level create health and medical disparities for Black mothers in pregnancy, during delivery, and the postpartum period. The paper concludes with a multifaceted solution and call to action.

Screen Culture: A Closer Look At The Impact Of Screen Use On Developmental Outcomes, Dylan Leslie, Joseph Schwartz Phd

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Excessive screen time among adolescents has long been considered a potential risk factor for a host of negative physical, mental and behavioral outcomes. There are important questions surrounding this association that remain unanswered. The temporal order of the association remains unestablished, as it is fully possible that preexisting physical, mental, and behavioral issues are causing excessive screen use. Similarly, selection bias remains possible, as influences that promote excessive screen use may also, simultaneously, impact negative physical health, mental health, and behavior. Finally, the developmental impact of increased screen time remains relatively unknown, as the majority of existing studies are exclusively …

Physical Activity Barriers And Facilitators Among Working Mothers And Fathers, Emily L. Mailey, Jennifer Huberty, Danae M. Dinkel, Edward Mcauley

Health and Kinesiology Faculty Publications

Background: The transition to parenthood is consistently associated with declines in physical activity. In particular, working parents are at risk for inactivity, but research exploring physical activity barriers and facilitators in this population has been scarce. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively examine perceptions of physical activity among working parents.

Methods: Working mothers (n = 13) and fathers (n = 12) were recruited to participate in one of four focus group sessions and discuss physical activity barriers and facilitators. Data were analyzed using immersion/crystallization in NVivo 10.

Results: Major themes for barriers included family responsibilities, guilt, lack of …

Enacting Privacy Rules And Protecting Disclosure Recipients: Parents’ Communication With Children Following The Death Of A Family Member, Paige W. Toller, M. Chad Mcbride

Communication Faculty Publications

Given the probability that the death of a family member will occur before a child has reached adulthood, the purpose of this project was to understand what motivates parents to either talk or not talk about a loved one's death with their children. Using Communication Privacy Management to inductively analyze interviews, we found parents were motivated to talk to their children about death because they wanted their children to be informed. This is reflected in the first primary theme, Recalibrating Family of Origin Privacy Orientation Rules: Motivations for Revealing. Two secondary themes further explained parents' motivations to reveal: death as …

Delinquent Friends And Reactions To Strain: An Examination Of Direct And Indirect Pathways, Ryan E. Spohn

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Strain theorists acknowledge that only some strained individuals become involved in delinquency. Thus, a necessary research objective is to determine the conditions under which strain results in deviant adaptations. The goal of this research is to examine the conditioning effects of exposure to delinquent friends/peer pressure on the relationship between strain and delinquency. Whereas Agnew (1992, 2001, 2006) argues that a criminogenic environment will increase the effect of strain on delinquency, Warr’s (1993) research indicates that other correlates of delinquency lose their influence when adolescents are enmeshed in a network of delinquent peers. In testing these competing hypotheses, the current …

Adolescent Dating Violence: How Should Schools Respond?, Jeanne L. Surface, David Stader, Thomas Graca, Jerry Lowe

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Educational leaders have a substantial degree of control over students and generally have a tremendous influence on the decisions that they make. District administrators are already involved in comprehensive efforts to stem sexual harassment, teen violence and bullying; therefore, they may be well positioned to identify and address the problem of teen dating violence. Unfortunately, school district failure to take action is far too common, despite the statutory duty to ensure the safety of all students during school hours and at school sponsored events. School districts can be held liable for student dating violence under Title IX, under 42 U.S.C. …

Function-­Preserving Filters For Sampling In Biological Networks, Kathryn Dempsey Cooper, Sanjukta Bhowmick, Hesham Ali

Interdisciplinary Informatics Faculty Publications

Assays created to study systems of disease and aging can offer a whole new set of therapeutic targets. However, with experiments of this immense volume, data becomes unmanageable for many traditional analyses. Enter the biological network, a tool for modeling relationships among high-throughput data that is quickly rising in popularity. Small networks (in the order of hundreds to few thousands of nodes) use relationships between network structure to infer biological function; this relationship has been confirmed and used in many studies to advance the study of model organisms. Networks built for assessing entire genomes, or entire protein repertoires, however, tend …

Early Childhood/Child Welfare Priority, Nancy Edick, Samantha K. Ammons, Melissa Cast-Brede, Ann Coyne, Karen Falconer Al-Hindi, Shari Hofschire, Lisa Kelly-Vance, Jay Killion, Sajda Qureshi, Bridget O. Ryalls, Peter Simi, Peter Wolcott

Foundational Documents

This is the executive summary of a white paper that describes the context, current capacity, areas of opportunity, and next steps for the UNO Early Childhood/Child Welfare Priority (ECCW). It responds to the need for comprehensive integrated systems of services designed to give all young children (birth through age eight) access to what they need in the early years to succeed in school and in life. In this context, UNO recognizes ECCW as critical to our metropolitan university mission. Further, we must come together with early childhood service providers, P-12 districts, parents, policy makers, other University of Nebraska campuses, community …

Dating Violence, Don't Ignore It!, Jeanne L. Surface, David Stader, Thomas Graca, Jerry Lowe

Educational Leadership Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Educational leaders have a substantial degree of control over students and generally have a tremendous influence on the decisions that they make. District administrators are already involved in comprehensive efforts to stem sexual harassment, teen violence and bullying; therefore, they may be well positioned to identify and address the problem of teen dating violence. Unfortunately, school district failure to take action is far too common, despite the statutory duty to ensure the safety of all students during school hours and at school sponsored events. School districts can be held liable for student dating violence under Title IX, under 42 U.S.C. …

How Does The Fictional Tv Marriage Influence A Young Adult's Own Perceptions About Marriage?, Gina A. Svedsen

Student Work

This study explored the relationship between television influence and the young adult‘s perception of marriage. The participants were 178, college-aged males and females (median age 20) from a large Midwestern university. How much television participants watched and the types of programs they watched were examined. Participants were asked where they got their information about marriage and how they thought marriage was displayed on TV. Two hypotheses were tested -- H1: Female students are more likely than male students to use TV programs for ideas on what marriage is really like; H2: Television has a greater influence over female students than …

The Experience Of Counseling The Terminally Ill And The Best Counseling Practices, Helen Jackson Bleicher

Student Work

As people approach the end of their lives, many experience anxiety throughout the dying experience. This research investigated the death experience of terminally ill patients and the best counseling practices among licensed mental health practitioners. The questions developed by the researcher served as the measure, which was developed specifically for this research. The questions were given to a small purposive sample of counselors (N=10) who work in hospice settings, private practice, and oncology clinics. This research found that counselors focus on the psychosocial and spiritual aspects of dying, and observe patients having less death anxiety when they are comfortable with …

Family Structure As A Social Context For Family Conflict: Unjust Strain And Serious Delinquency, Ryan E. Spohn, Don L. Kurtz

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Two major themes in the delinquency literature are the roles of family structure and childhood victimization. Combining these two lines of research, the current project examines the unique contribution of family structure and victimization on the serious delinquency of a nationally representative sample of adolescents. In addition, we examine whether the form of families serves to condition the relationship between victimization and delinquency. Past research indicates that abuse is more likely to occur in two-parent families of a ‘‘mixed’’ form, specifically in the presence of a live-in boyfriend or stepfather. However, little is known regarding the impact of victimization on …

Parent Involvement And Views Of School Success: The Role Of Parents’ Latino And White American Cultural Orientations, Carey S. Ryan, Juan F. Casas, Lisa Kelly-Vance, Bridget O. Ryalls, Collette Nero

Psychology Faculty Publications

We examined ethnicity and cultural orientation as predictors of parents' views of and involvement in children's education, using data gathered from the Latino (n = 74) and non-Latino (17 White and 13 ethnic minority) parents of children in an elementary school's dual-language program. Parents completed a questionnaire that assessed Latino and White American cultural orientations, importance of children's academic and social success, and self- and significant other involvement in children's education. Results indicated that Latino (and other ethnic minority) parents valued academic and social success equally and more strongly than did Whites and that Whites valued social success more …

Emotional Abuse And Controlling Behaviors In Heterosexual Relationships: The Role Of Employment And Alcohol Use For Women And Their Partners, Egbert Zavala, Ryan E. Spohn

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of economic resources, status compatibility, and alcohol consumption on forms of nonphysical abuse, such as controlling and emotional abuse. Specifically, we focus on the connections between women’s employment, the employment of their partners, alcohol use, and women’s risk of abuse in intimate relationships. We hypothesize that women in intimate relationships with men will experience more emotional abuse to the extent that they are economically vulnerable. Moreover, abuse should increase if their employment status, in relation to that of their partner, challenges the man’s marital power. Moreover, alcohol use by women …

A Community Coalition Promotes Family Literacy With Story Celebrations, M. Susan Mcwilliams

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

A coalition is typically formed between individuals or groups to bring unique strengths together in a cooperative manner to address a common cause. In our community, an alliance was formed to raise public consciousness about the impact of family reading on children's literacy development. As a coalition, we planned, organized and funded literacy-related events or story celebrations in multiple locations throughout the community. In this article, I describe and provide rationale for creating a coalition that advocates for family literacy.

Using Communication To Cope With Loss, Paige W. Toller

Communication Faculty Publications

The death of a child is a devastating and life changing event. A child's death leaves parents struggling to somehow pick up the pieces of their shattered life and continue living. In the aftermath of their loss, parents are often surprised and disappointed to discover how difficult it is to talk to one another about their child's death. Likewise, parents may be frustrated to learn that they grieve very differently from their spouse. In many cases, one parent wants to talk a great deal about the child's death while the other does not. In addition, one parent may be more …

Grieving Together And Apart: Bereaved Parents’ Contradictions Of Marital Interaction, Paige W. Toller, Dawn O. Braithwaite

Communication Faculty Publications

The researchers adopted relational dialectics theory (Baxter & Montgomery, 1996) to examine the discourse of 37 bereaved parents. Research questions guiding the study were what dialectical contradictions do bereaved parents experience when communicating with their marital partner after their child’s death and how do bereaved parents and their marital partners communicatively negotiate the dialectical contradictions they experience? Our analysis revealed that bereaved parents experienced a dialectical contradiction between trying to grieve their child’s death together as a couple and apart as individuals. Likewise, parents experienced a contradiction between being both open and closed when talking with one another about their …

Defining Family: Naming, Orientation, And Redemption In The Case Of Terri Schiavo, M. Chad Mcbride, Karen L. Taas, Paige W. Toller

Communication Faculty Publications

This paper undertakes a detailed analysis of the Terri Schiavo case as it was covered in popular media. Drawing on Burkean theory, we argue a critical issue in the case was a struggle between Terri's parents and husband to be seen as the more legitimate family in order to determine the duration and extent of Terri 's medical care. We discuss how the private debate over Terri's health and the decision to remove her feeding tube entered into the public scenes of legal and political action. This shift to the public scene represented problems for the parties directly involved in …

Keep Public Places Open To The Autistic, Karen Falconer Al-Hindi, Carol Salber, Shawn Neff

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

What does it mean to be "well-behaved"?

A recent Associated Press article (Aug. 17 World-Herald) discussed the "disruptive behavior" of individuals with autism. As mothers and activists on behalf of children with autism, we have a different perspective.

Adolescents With Two Nonresident Biological Parents: Living Arrangements, Parental Involvement, And Well-Being, Valarie King, Katherine C. Stamps, Daniel Hawkins

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

We know little about children who have two living nonresident biological parents. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examines the diverse living arrangements of U.S. adolescents in this situation, the kinds of relationships they have with each of their nonresident parents, and the consequences of these arrangements for child well-being. Differences between these adolescents (N = 502) and those who have one nonresident biological parent (N = 4746) are also examined. Results point to certain groups of adolescents with two nonresident parents who are at particular risk of exhibiting higher levels of behavior problems …

Centered But Not Caught In The Middle: Stepchildren's Perceptions Of Dialectical Contradictions In The Communication Of Co-Parents, Dawn O. Braithwaite, Paige W. Toller, Karen L. Daas, Wesley Durham, Adam C. Jones

Communication Faculty Publications

The researchers adopted a dialectical perspective to study how stepchildren experience and communicatively manage the perception of feeling caught in the middle between their parents who are living in different households. The metaphor of being caught in the middle is powerful for stepchildren and this metaphor animated their discourse. A central contribution of the present study was to understand the alternative to being caught in the middle and what this alternative means to stepchildren. Reflected in the discourse of stepchildren is that to feel not caught in the middle is to feel centered in the family. Stepchildren's desire to be …

Rural Superintendents: How Do Wyoming Rural Superintendents View And Respond To The Challenges Brought About By External Demands On Their Schools?, Jeanne L. Surface

Faculty Books and Monographs

Very little is known about how superintendents respond to and view the challenges brought about by increasing external performance demands on their schools. This important study uses a multi-case study format to create portraits of five rural superintendents, the challenges they face, and their responses to those challenges. The participant perceptions were organized into five themes: declining enrollment, isolation, board and community relations, celebrated accomplishments, and rural schools in contrast with urban or suburban schools. The superintendents were most proud of changes they had made to improve instruction in their districts. They spoke of challenges with bringing professional development to …

Organizing The Baby Boomer Construct: An Exploration Of Marketing, Social Systems, And Culture, Jeremy Harris Lipschultz, Michael L. Hilt, Hugh J. Reilly

Communication Faculty Publications

Baby boomer trends are applied in the development of a conceptual framework that offers a social systems and cultural model for future studies. While there has been considerable recent attention paid to baby boomers, the studies lack a coherent theoretical base that would allow for more advanced and continuing research. Aging baby boomers heading into retirement present excellent research opportunities for scholars.

Non-Resident Father Involvement And Adolescent Well- Being: Father Effects Or Child Effects?, Daniel Hawkins, Paul R. Amato, Valarie King

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Is active fathering by nonresident fathers a cause or a consequence of adolescent well- being? Past studies of nonresident father involvement have assumed a father effects model in which active parenting by fathers improves adolescent adjustment. A child effects model, in which fathers respond to levels of well-being among their adolescent offspring by becoming more or less involved parents, could also account for the positive association between active fathering and adolescent adjustment. We utilize nationally representative data from the 1995 and 1996 waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to estimate the cross-lagged associations between nonresident …

Baby Boomers’ Attitudes Towards Product Placements, Nichole M. Schmoll, John Hafer, Michael L. Hilt, Hugh J. Reilly

Communication Faculty Publications

Including branded products within mass media programming is becoming common. Previous research has focused almost entirely on college-age students' attitudes about placements in movies and television. This research focuses on Baby Boomers and is the first to include questions about multiple media in forming attitudes towards product placements. Six hypotheses were tested. Attitude toward product placement is related to media consumption. Males appear more positive than females. Interactions effects of media consumption x gender and media consumption x age appear insignificant. Analytical results, graphs, tables and managerial implications and representative comments from respondents are presented.

Early Parenting And Children's Relational And Physical Aggression In The Preschool And Home Contexts, Juan F. Casas, Stephanie M. Weigel, Nikki R. Crick, Jamie M. Ostrov, Kathleen E. Woods, Elizabeth A. Jansen Yeh, Catherine A. Huddleston-Casas

Psychology Faculty Publications

This study investigated early parent- child relationships and how children's use of relational and physical aggression varies with aspects of those relationships during the preschool years. Specifically, parenting styles, parents' use of psychological control, and parents' report of their children's reunion behaviors were assessed. Analyses revealed significant associations between children's use of both relational and physical aggression and parents' reports of their own and their partner's parenting style, psychological control behaviors, and indicators of the attachment relationship. The results highlight the importance of investigating both mothers' and fathers' parenting and the sex of the child in studies of potential links …

Review Of Fathers Under Fire: The Revolution In Child Support Enforcement, By Irwin Garfinkel, Sara S. Mclanahan, Daniel R. Meyer, And Judith A. Seltzer, Ryan E. Spohn

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The title of this book adequately reflects its timely focus on nonresidential fathers facing increased child support enforcement, examining how child support contributions (or failure to meet child support obligations) affect the lives of children as well as the fathers themselves. As the authors suggest, nonresident fathers have generally been treated as financial resources, with little attention paid to their rights as parents or their needs as providers for their children. A particular focus of this collection of studies is the role of indigent nonresident fathers and their role as parents and providers. Consequently, the scope of study adopted by …

Parent-Adolescent Involvement: The Relative Influence Of Parent Gender And Residence, Daniel Hawkins, Paul R. Amato, Valarie King

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

The 1995 wave of the Add Health study is used to investigate the relative influence of parent gender and residence on patterns of parental involvement with adolescents. Adolescent reports (N = 17,330) of shared activities, shared communication, and relationship quality with both biological parents are utilized. A multidimensional scaling analysis reveals that parent gender explains most of the variance in parent-adolescent involvement, with residential status playing a secondary yet fundamental role in accounting for these patterns. Resident mothers who do not live with adolescents’ biological fathers engage in the broadest range of activities with their children. Unpartnered resident fathers display …

Negotiation Of Dialectical Contradictions By Parents Who Have Experienced The Death Of A Child, Paige W. Toller

Communication Faculty Publications

This study examines how bereaved parents experience communicating with individuals in their social network. The bereaved parents in this study experienced two dialectical contradictions: (a) between the physical absence of their child and the continuing presence and emotional bond with their deceased child; and (b) between being open or closed when deciding whether to talk about the deceased child to others. Results describe how parents communicatively negotiated these contradictions. The article concludes by discussing practical applications for bereaved parents, bereavement support groups, helping professionals, and individuals within the bereaved parents’ social network.