Other Sociology Commons^™

The Slow Dawn Of Climate-Change Awareness, And Its Challenge For A Sustainable Planet, Lawrence C. Hamilton

Carsey Publications

In this perspectives brief, author Larry Hamilton summarizes his research on public perceptions of climate change, drawing on a decade of nationwide and New Hampshire surveys.

He reports that public awareness of human-caused climate change rose slowly over the past decade, showing no sudden jumps after climate-related events such as major storms. Awareness rose twice as fast among members of Generation Z compared with older generations, although increases occurred within each of those generations too. Faster change among young adults fits with other research showing people at that life stage tend to be more active in updating their beliefs with …

Four-In-Five Adults Are Vaccinated Or Intend To Get A Vaccine, Sarah Boege

Carsey Publications

In this data snapshot, author Sarah Boege reports that by March 29, one-quarter of U.S. adults reported that they had already received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. In addition, 39.1 percent hadn’t yet been vaccinated but reported that they will “definitely” get one when available and another 17.4 percent said that they “probably” will. However, 10.1 percent of adults will “probably not” and 8.2 percent will “definitely not” get a vaccine.

These data suggest that a large majority of adults could be vaccinated in the coming months, but experts see risks in having a sizeable group remain …

Share Of Childless Adults Eligible For Eitc Triples Under American Rescue Plan, Jess Carson

Carsey Publications

In this fact sheet, author Jess Carson explores how changes to the Earned Income Tax Credit in 2021 affect childless tax filers.

Findings show that the share of childless adults who can claim a credit has tripled under the new provisions, and that the biggest driver of widened access is lowering the minimum age for eligibility. Childless filers in different areas of the country and of different racial-ethnic groups all have wider access, but gains are larger in some groups than others.

Policymakers considering whether to retain all or part of the EITC expansions in future years should consider how …

Improving Staff Communication For Small Non-Profits: Girls' Empowerment Program Case Study, Elizabeth Schwaner

Carsey Publications

In this white paper, author Elizabeth Schwaner discusses challenges faced by Girls' Empowerment Program, a non-profit organization based in the northeast U.S. that serves at-risk girls in its community through a year-round mentoring program paired with a residential social summer camp. Despite its undeniable strengths, issues with communication are a persistent challenge. Like many small organizations staffed by a few paid employees and many volunteers, identifying specific practices that lead to miscommunication or helpful informational pathways can be a challenge. This case study elucidates some of those challenges and opportunities for Girls' Empowerment, but with the expectation that other small, …

New Data Show One-In-Six Children Were Poor Before Covid-19 Pandemic, Jess Carson, Sarah Boege

Carsey Publications

New American Community Survey (ACS) data released by the U.S. Census Bureau on September 17, 2020 show child poverty at 16.8 percent in 2019, down from 18 percent in 2018. Sub-national patterns in child poverty remain intact; for example, higher in rural and urban places than in the suburbs. Importantly, 2019 child poverty declines are likely now outdated due to the COVID-19-related recession, the effects of which may last years. For instance, child poverty had still not yet returned to pre-Great Recession rates from 2007 in all states by 2019, illustrating that recovery in child poverty can be a long …

Covid-19 Didn't Create A Child Care Crisis, But Hastened And Inflamed It, Jess Carson, Marybeth J. Mattingly

Carsey Publications

In this Carsey Perspective, authors Jess Carson and Marybeth Mattingly describe the ways that the COVID-19 pandemic has strained the nation’s already-fragile early childhood care systems.

Child care providers are struggling to address revenue losses associated with closures, fewer enrollments, and new safety guidelines. Meanwhile, demand for formal child care is shifting in yet-unknown ways, with unemployment, telework, uncertain school reopenings for older children, and health-related concerns all playing a part.

The authors conclude that the child care system requires significant policy support to regain lost footage, but encourage policymakers to utilize the pandemic’s disruption as an opportunity to rebuild …

Affordability Challenges Drive Food Insufficiency In The Pandemic, Jess Carson, Sarah Boege

Carsey Publications

In this data snapshot, authors Jess Carson and Sarah Boege find that getting food is a problem for people experiencing food insufficiency during the pandemic, but affording food is the biggest challenge.

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 …

The Benefits And Barriers To Living In Coös County, New Hampshire: Perceptions Of The Region From Emerging Adults, Kristine Bundschuh

Carsey Publications

In this report, author Kristine Bundschuh identifies the benefits and barriers that emerging adults, age 18–25, perceive as they make the decision to stay in, leave, or return to Coös County, New Hampshire. The main draws to living in Coös are its family and community support systems. Those with local professional and educational plans, or who have purchased a home locally, experience additional benefits. Some emerging adults say they would live in Coös if it provided the employment opportunities, diverse communities, and amenities they seek.

Innovation In Food Access Amid The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jess Carson

Carsey Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered income losses and rising demand for food-related support, while social distancing requirements have complicated access to usual nutrition support sites. In response, government agencies, private retailers, nonprofit organizations, and volunteer networks are undertaking innovative efforts to ensure food access by vulnerable populations. By highlighting strategies that are unfolding in real time, this brief shares an array of potential approaches for private, public, and nonprofit stakeholders to use in deploying their resources.

Trusting Scientists More Than The Government: New Hampshire Perceptions Of The Pandemic, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Thomas G. Safford

Carsey Publications

In this brief, authors Lawrence Hamilton and Thomas Safford report that despite a dramatic increase in the incidence of COVID-19, and an evolving government response, there was no significant change between surveys taken in mid-March and mid-April in the shares of New Hampshire residents who reported they were making “major changes” in their daily routines, had low confidence in the federal government’s response, or expressed trust in information from science agencies.

Rural Areas With Seasonal Homes Hit Hard By Covid-19, Jess Carson

Carsey Publications

In this data snapshot, author Jess Carson finds that rural counties where at least 25 percent of the housing units are for seasonal use are hit especially hard by COVID-19 compared with urban and other kinds of rural counties.

Views Of A Fast-Moving Pandemic: A Survey Of Granite Staters’ Responses To Covid-19, Thomas G. Safford, Lawrence C. Hamilton

Carsey Publications

In this brief, authors Thomas Safford and Lawrence Hamilton report the results of a Granite State Panel survey (March 17-26), asking New Hampshire residents about their views concerning government responses to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and whether they changed their daily routine because of the pandemic. They report that New Hampshire residents who approve of President Trump’s handling of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and those who regularly watch Fox News are less likely than others to have made major changes in their routines due to COVID-19. Granite Staters have polarized opinions about President Trump’s handling of the pandemic: 40 …

The Poverty-Reducing Effects Of The Eitc And Other Safety Nets For Young Adult Parents, Jess Carson

Carsey Publications

In this brief, Jess Carson explores the poverty-reducing effects of key federal safety net programs among 18-24 year old (“young adult”) parents. An estimated 2.5 million very young children live with a young adult parent, with low-income children especially likely to do so. The brief finds that more than four in five young adult parents, regardless of income, participate in at least one major safety net program. Of these, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is the most widely used and the most effective at reducing poverty under the Supplemental Poverty Measure, and poverty would increase by 6.7 percentage points …

Free And Reduced-Price Lunch Eligibility By New Hampshire State Legislative District, Sarah Boege, Jess Carson

Carsey Publications

In this brief, authors Sarah Boege and Jessica Carson translate New Hampshire free and reduced-price lunch eligibility data from the school level to the state House of Representatives legislative district level so that legislators have another resource for understanding the distribution of low-income families across the state and the extent to which child nutrition programs are especially relevant in their districts. They report that although the distribution of students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch (FRPL) across the state follows established patterns of child and family poverty, there is significant variation by House legislative district. The House district with the …

For One In Four Very Young, Low-Income Children, Parents Are Young Too, Jess Carson

Carsey Publications

In this brief, author Jessica Carson maps the distribution of children living with young adult parents, describes their parents’ characteristics, and details ways to strengthen policy supports that can fortify their families’ ability to succeed. She reports that while fewer than 5 percent of children live with young adult parents (age 18–24), the share among children age 0–3 is 16 percent, and among low-income children that age, it is 25 percent. Low-income young adult parents have different characteristics than their older counterparts; for example, they are more often parenting their first child with no co-parent present, and they have higher …

Child Poverty Declines Slightly In 2018 To 18 Percent, Jess Carson

Carsey Publications

In this data snapshot, author Jessica Carson reports that according to analyses of new American Community Survey data released today, nearly one-in-five American children were poor in 2018. While child poverty has finally returned to pre-recession rates, the 0.4 percentage point decline since 2017 continues the trend of incremental decreases in child poverty since the post-recession peak in 2012.

Tracking Change In The North Country: Paths To The Future Of Coös County, Eleanor M. Jaffee

Carsey Publications

From 2008 through 2018, the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation partnered with the Carsey School of Public Policy (formerly the Carsey Institute) at the University of New Hampshire for a research project titled Tracking Change in the North Country. In this brief, author Eleanor Jaffee summarizes several major products of this research partnership and considers how they may inform future directions for North Country policy and programming.

Northern New Hampshire Youth In A Changing Rural Economy: A Ten-Year Perspective, Eleanor M. Jaffee, Corinna Jenkins Tucker, Karen T. Van Gundy, Erin Hiley Sharp, Cesar Rebellon

Carsey Publications

The Coös Youth Study was a ten-year research project about growing up in a rural county undergoing transformative economic and demographic changes. The study addressed how these changes affected youths’ well-being as well as their plans to stay in the region, pursue opportunities elsewhere, permanently relocate, or return to their home communities with new skills and new ideas. In this report, the authors describe their findings and point to specific areas for action to support and retain North Country youth. The study was sponsored by the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation as one component …

Support For Paid Family And Medical Leave In New Hampshire, Kristin Smith

Carsey Publications

In this data snapshot, author Kristin Smith reports that 78 percent of New Hampshire residents stated support for a program that would provide a portion of wages to workers taking leave for personal or family medical reasons in October 2018. Women registered higher levels of support for paid family and medical leave insurance than men, and those with a liberal or moderate political ideology reported higher support than those with a conservative ideology. Levels of support did not vary significantly between regions in the state. Related to whether a program should require participation or be voluntary: more than two-thirds of …

The Motherhood Wage Penalty: High-Earning Women Are Doing Better Than Before, Rebecca Glauber

Carsey Publications

In this data snapshot, author Rebecca Glauber discusses her research on the motherhood wage penalty. In her study, she asked whether the motherhood wage penalty has declined over the past few decades. A decrease began in the 1990s but was most pronounced for high-earning women and smallest for lower-earning women. Median-earners fell somewhere in between. Today, high-earning women, or those who make close to $100,000 per year, no longer pay a motherhood penalty. But low earners, or those struggling on $15,000 per year, do.

Closing Racial-Ethnic Gaps In Poverty: How Government Programs Compare, Marybeth J. Mattingly, Jess Carson

Carsey Publications

In this data snapshot, authors Marybeth Mattingly and Jessica Carson explore the role of government programs in alleviating poverty for people with different racial-ethnic identities. Because poverty rates among non-Hispanic whites are significantly lower than among other groups, programs with disparate effects by race can either widen or decrease racial-ethnic gaps in the poverty rate. The authors find that SNAP and the EITC play particularly important roles for non-white populations; however, Social Security maintains low poverty rates among whites, and exacerbates the poverty gap between white and non-white populations. Policymakers who want to advance low income populations and promote racial-ethnic …

Understanding Early Childhood Education Needs And Opportunities In The Upper Valley: Phase 2, Jess Carson

Carsey Publications

The survey on which this report is based was designed to better understand the early childhood education needs and opportunities in the Upper Valley of New Hampshire and Vermont. Disseminated among four of the region’s largest employers, the survey specifically inquired about the child care use, challenges, and choices of select Upper Valley workers to lend geographic and contextual detail to data from national surveys and state administrative systems.

This report begins with a series of key findings from the survey and a description of the report data and methodology. The body of the report focuses on four key areas: …

Understanding Early Childhood Education Needs And Opportunities In The Upper Valley, Jess Carson

Carsey Publications

This report provides a broad exploration of the Upper Valley of New Hampshire and Vermont to better understand how families and children fare in general, and specifically within the early childhood education and care landscape of the region.

Contraceptive Sabotage, Leah A. Plunkett

Law Faculty Scholarship

This Article responds to the alarm recently sounded by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists over “birth control sabotage”—the “active interference [by one partner] with [the other] partner’s contraceptive methods in an attempt to promote pregnancy.” Currently, sabotage is not a crime, and existing categories of criminal offenses fail to capture the essence of the injury it does to victims. This Article argues that sabotage should be a separate crime—but only when perpetrated against those partners who can and do get pregnant as a result of having sabotaged sex. Using the principle of self-possession—understood as a person’s basic right …

Review Essay: Janet Halley, Split Decisions: How And Why To Take A Break From Feminism, Ann Bartow

Law Faculty Scholarship

[Excerpt] “My overarching reaction to Janet Halley's recent book, Split Decisions: How and Why to Take a Break from Feminism, can be summarized with a one sentence cliché: The perfect is the enemy of the good.' She holds feminism to a standard of perfection no human endeavor could possibly meet, and then heartily criticizes it for falling short. Though Halley's myriad observations about feminism occasionally resonated with my own views and experiences, ultimately I remain unconvinced that taking a break from feminism would, for me, be either justified or productive. But I did (mostly) enjoy reading it. Halley is well …