Family, Life Course, and Society Commons^™

The Role Of The Family In Criminal Law, Gerard V. Bradley

Journal Articles

Privilege or Punish: Criminal Justice and the Challenge of Family Ties. Dan Markel, Jennifer M. Collins & Ethan J. Leib. Oxford University Press, 2009.

The authors of Privilege or Punish (PoP) pose two questions, one descriptive and the other morally evaluative. "First, how does the criminal justice system in this country approach the issue of family status? Second, how should family status be recognized, if at all, in a criminal justice system situated within a liberal democracy committed to egalitarian principles of nondiscrimination?"

Family Characteristics, Public Program Participation, & Civic Engagement, Richard K. Caputo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study tested for differences on the type and extent of civic engagement between use of visible programs such as Food Stamps and Medicaid and less visible programs such as the Earned Income Tax Credit while accounting for family and socio demographic characteristics. Policy feedback theory guided the study which used data from the 1979 cohort of the National Longitudinal Surveys. Challenging prior research, means-tested Food Stamps, Medicaid, or EITC program participants were as likely as non-participants to devote time to activities aimed at changing social conditions. What social service agencies can do to enhance civic engagement is discussed.

Clergy Family Systems Training And How It Changes Clergy Leadership Attitudes And Practices, Michael J. Aufderhar

Dissertations

Problem. Clergy persons without an awareness of their family system patterns and reactivity often exercise their leadership in unhealthy ways that are damaging to their congregations. This study described changes in leadership attitudes and practices experienced by clergy participants in a Family Systems training program conducted by Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Method. This qualitative case study followed a narrative design. I collected data while participating in the program and 3 years later conducted semi-structured person-to-person interviews with all participants who were willing and available. The data also include drawings by each participant depicting their experience before and after the intervention. …

Estimating The Prevalence And Frequency Of The Adolescent Drug Use: Do The Models Fit The Measures?, John P. Hoffmann, Stephen J. Bahr

Faculty Publications

We critically review recent studies to examine the measurement schemes and empirical models used to examine adolescent drug use, with a particular eye toward determining whether differences between the prevalence and frequency of use have been addressed. Several theoretical models suggest that there are differences but we find relatively few studies that have considered prevalence versus frequency, even though selection effects that dictations these processes affect conclusions about predictors of drug use. Using data from the 2004 U.S. National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), (n=16,235), we provide an empirical example of why distinguishing prevalence and frequency of use …

The Relationship Of Parent Involvement And Student Success In Gear Up Communities In Chicago, Wendy M. Stack

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Nationally, the education pipeline is not preparing enough students for success and high school dropout rates in the nation’s urban areas are alarming. This mixed methods (QUAN→qual) empirical study examines the influence of parent involvement on the academic success of 1,774 GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) students matched to their parents in 21 high schools in Chicago. The results of the regression analyses were presented to focus groups composed of GEAR UP parents and staff to assist in making meaning of the data and to gain deeper insight and understanding of the results. The study …

The Impact Of Therapeutic Alliance On Outcomes In Parent-Child Dyadic Interventions, Ryan M. Smith

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

An infant’s attachment relationship with primary caregivers has been demonstrated to have a long-term relationship to an individual’s social and emotional functioning throughout the lifespan. Recognizing the critical importance of this period, interventions to facilitate secure attachment are now being evaluated for treatment efficacy. Evaluation of these treatments has typically focused on the components of treatment, examining changes in maternal sensitivity, parental attachment representations, and concrete support to address basic needs, housing, or other contextual factors, and evidence has been found to support the inclusion of these factors. However, little is known regarding what elements of treatment impact the effectiveness …

Jacob Singer (1883-1964): Bio-Bibliography Of A Jewish-Latvian-Nebraskan Sociologist, Michael R. Hill, Natalja Callahan

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The professional life of Jacob Singer was deeply entwined with religion and thus exemplifies the sociological life histories of many early sociologists in the United States and elsewhere. Numerous Protestant sociologists, such as Charles A. Ellwood (1988) and the religious men of the early Chicago School, e.g., Albion Small, Charles R. Henderson, George Vincent and Charles Zeublin (Deegan 1988: 71- 104), interpenetrated the boundaries between sociology and religion as did several Catholic sociologists, including, for example, Eva J. Ross (Hill 1999) and the members of the Christus Rex Society in Ireland (Daly 2006). Adding to the religious diversity of this …

Charlotte Perkins Gilman And The Entrepreneurial Turn: A Working Introduction, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, lived from 1860 to 1935 — the same years as did Jane Addams. Gilman was an American, a pioneering sociologist, an influential feminist pragmatist, a peripatetic lecturer, a prolific author, and a friend of Addams. Although Gilman died in 1935, she remains today a provocative sociological presence whose writings continue to make us think, argue, and question our preconceptions. This paper explores the entrepreneurial basis of Gilman’s life as a professional sociologist, including her work as an artist, public speaker, and writer. Gilman promoted the core ideas that (1) humanness trumps sexual difference, (2) social logic is …

The Hidden Infertile: Infertile Women Without Pregnancy Intent In The United States, Arthur L. Greil, Julia Mcquillan, Katherine Johnson, Kathleen Slauson-Blevins, Karina M. Shreffler

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

A national probability sample reveals two relatively distinct groups of infertile women: those with intent, who have experienced a period of 12 or more months during which they tried to conceive but did not, and those without intent, who had a period of at least 12 months during which they could have conceived and did not but who do not describe themselves as having tried to become pregnant at that time. Those with intent are more likely to identify as having a fertility problem, to be distressed, and to pursue infertility treatment than those without intent, suggesting that many women …

Parental Timing And Depressive Symptoms In Early Adulthood, Christina D. Falci, Jeylan Mortimer, Harmonijoie Noel

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Using data from a panel of 459 women, we find that early parents (birth) report higher levels of depressive symptoms in young adulthood (roughly age 29) compared to later parents (first birth in their 20s) or nonparents. Early parenting is also associated with more stressors and fewer resources in young adulthood. As young adults, early parents have lower educational attainment, less secure employment and a weaker sense of personal control; they also experience greater financial strain and more traumatic life events than later and nonparents. By the end of their 20s, early parents are also more likely to be single …

Romantic Relationships And The Physical And Mental Health Of College Students, Scott R. Braithwaite, Raquel Delevi, Frank Fincham

Faculty Publications

This study tested the hypothesis that, analogous to married individuals, college students in committed romantic relationships experience greater well-being than single college students. In a sample of 1,621 college students, individuals in committed relationships experienced fewer mental health problems and were less likely to be overweight/obese. There were no significant differences between groups in frequency of physical health problems. Examination of 2 models suggested that being in a committed romantic relationship decreases problematic outcomes largely through a reduction in sexual partners, which in turn decreases both risky behaviors and problematic outcomes. These results are discussed in the context of how …

Social Relationships And Mortality Risk: A Meta-Analytic Review, Julianne Holt-Lunstad

Faculty Publications

Background

The quality and quantity of individuals' social relationships has been linked not only to mental health but also to both morbidity and mortality.

Objectives

This meta-analytic review was conducted to determine the extent to which social relationships influence risk for mortality, which aspects of social relationships are most highly predictive, and which factors may moderate the risk.

Data Extraction

Data were extracted on several participant characteristics, including cause of mortality, initial health status, and pre-existing health conditions, as well as on study characteristics, including length of follow-up and type of assessment of social relationships.

Results

Across 148 studies (308,849 …

The Role Of Social Support Systems In Reducing Loneliness And Social Isolation For Parents Whose Partner Work Fly-In/Fly-Out, Nicole Fresle

Theses : Honours

Fly-in/fly-out (FIFO) practices in the mining and contracting industries are currently prominent and expanding throughout Western Australia. There is a strong need for effective social support systems for families during the worker's deployment due to long periods of time apart, reappraisal of family roles and social isolation. This study used a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to explore the lived experiences of parents whose partners are employed on a fly-in/fly-out basis and their views of social support systems in addressing the issues of loneliness and isolation. Family resilience was also utilised to investigate how female home-based partners deal with the stress involved …

Resilience In Families With Same-Sex Parents, Natasha Griffiths

Theses : Honours

Research suggests resilience can be viewed as a dynamic process facilitating positive functioning within the context of significant adversity. A nuclear family type that remains a controversial and stigmatized group is families with same-sex parents. Same-sex families face a great number of challenges, due to the presence of heterosexism in society and they are often heavily criticised within the broad public domain. The current study adopted a phenomenological methodology to identify the family resilience processes utilised by same-sex families. Five lesbian couples (n = 10) raising children in Perth, Western Australia were interviewed. A thematic analysis technique outlined by Glesne …

The Experiences Of Incarceration On Indigenous Parents And Primary Care-Givers Of Juvenile Detainees, Simone Reid

Theses : Honours

Incarceration impacts on a number of people, not just the person sentenced. It has been suggested that the family of the prisoner can experience the prison sentence just as much, albeit differently, as the prisoner themself. Families remain important, as those prisoners who return to strong family networks are at less risk of recidivism. National research has been used to inform policy-makers, but every State has unique characteristics. The overrepresentation of Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal juveniles in juvenile detention, especially in Western Australia, has been well-documented. However, research examining the experiences of incarceration on family members is limited. This …

Communalism Predicts Prenatal Affect, Stress, And Physiology Better Than Ethnicity And Socioeconomic Status, Cleopatra M. Abdou, Christine Dunkel Schetter, Belinda Campos, Clayton J. Hilmert, Tyan Parker Dominguez, Calvin J. Hobel, Laura M. Glynn, Curt A. Sandman

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The authors examined the relevance of communalism, operationalized as a cultural orientation emphasizing interdependence, to maternal prenatal emotional health and physiology and distinguished its effects from those of ethnicity and childhood and adult socioeconomic status (SES). African American and European American women (N = 297) were recruited early in pregnancy and followed through 32 weeks gestation using interviews and medical chart review. Overall, African American women and women of lower socioeconomic backgrounds had higher levels of negative affect, stress, and blood pressure, but these ethnic and socioeconomic disparities were not observed among women higher in communalism. Hierarchical multivariate regression analyses …

Domestication Alone Does Not Lead To Inequality: Intergenerational Wealth Transmission Among Horticulturalists, Michael Gurven, Monique Borgerhoff Mulder, Paul L. Hooper, Hillard Kaplan, Robert Quinlan, Rebecca Sear, Eric Schniter, Christopher Von Rueden, Samuel Bowles, Tom Hertz, Adrian Bell

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

We present empirical measures of wealth inequality and its intergenerational transmission among four horticulturalist populations. Wealth is construed broadly as embodied somatic and neural capital, including body size, fertility and cultural knowledge, material capital such as land and household wealth, and relational capital in the form of coalitional support and field labor. Wealth inequality is moderate for most forms of wealth, and intergenerational wealth transmission is low for material resources and moderate for embodied and relational wealth. Our analysis suggests that domestication alone does not transform social structure; rather, the presence of scarce, defensible resources may be required before inequality …

A Phenomenological Examination Of The Influence Of Culture On Treating And Caring For Hispanic Children With Autism, Lynette Estrada

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore and describe the influence culture has on the decisions Hispanic parents make to aid their children with autism. The research problems addressed are the influences culture may have on how professionals and external family members affect the choices parents make. Cultural and family systems theories formed the conceptual framework for the study. Researchers have found that cultural factors may lead to lower rates of diagnosis in Hispanic children with autism and parents' lack of knowledge of therapies and practices used to treat autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Five research questions guided this …

A Non-Marital, Romantic Relationship Dissolution Study, Nicole B. Stork-Hestad

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

The present study examines three non-marital, romantic relationship dissolution types: (1) normal dyadic dissolution, (2) fatal attraction dissolution, and (3) social allergen dissolution among a sample of 321 emerging adults, who are between ages eighteen and twenty-nine. Results of an online survey revealed that normal dyadic dissolution occurred in 62%, social allergen dissolution occurred in 27%, and fatal attraction dissolution occurred in 11% of the participants’ relational demises. Results also revealed that there is a surprising amount of overlap between the three dissolution types, and that age is not specifically correlated with a particular dissolution type. However, there are two …