Place and Environment Commons^™

The Adjustment Of Asian American Families To The U.S. Context: The Ecology Of Strengths And Stress, Yan Ruth Xia

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

The number of Asian American families is on the rise. Asian American families are a diverse group. This chapter focuses on Asian American families that migrated to the United States in the last three decades. This chapter challenges the media’s depiction of them as a Model Minority. Because of this stereotype, many challenges that this group encounters may not gain adequate attention. The chapter examines their strengths and resiliency, along with the ecology of stress that influences family dynamics.

Life In Hampton Roads Report: The Fourth Annual Life In Hampton Roads Survey, Sara Resnick, Tarah Gibbs, Charles Bush, Steve Parker, Tandy Vandecar-Burdin, Jesse Richman

Life in Hampton Roads Survey Report

[From the Executive Summary]

This document presents the results from the ODU Social Science Research Center’s fourth annual Life in Hampton Roads survey. The survey was designed to examine social and economic indicators of the quality of life in Hampton roads, particularly with respect to transportation and traffic, local and state government, education, heatlh, emergency preparedness, the economy, and crime. Questions were obtained from University faculty as well as from previous years’ Life in Hampton Roads surveys. The survey was conducted via telephone with 812 residents of the seven cities of Hampton Roads.

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (Nasis) 2012-2013 Methodology Report, Bureau Of Sociological Research

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (NASIS)

This report presents a detailed account of the design and fielding of the 2012-2013 Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (NASIS). Users of the 2013 NASIS data will find it an important reference source for answers to questions about methodology. The Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey was conceived as a vehicle both for producing current, topical information about Nebraskans and also for monitoring change in quality of life. As in earlier surveys, NASIS 2013 was a joint effort of the Department of Sociology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and a variety of public agencies. While the final responsibility for the …

Nasis 2013: Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey Questionnaire, Bureau Of Sociological Research

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (NASIS)

We need your help to learn about how Nebraskans think, feel, and live. Researchers from the University of Nebraska and across the state are counting on your help to learn about a variety of issues. Your responses will help shape program and policy development in Nebraska now and into the future.

1. Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with living in Nebraska? ...

85 questions; 12 pages

Consent And The Subjective World Of The Worker, Marty Laubach, Michael Wallace

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Research

Purpose: This study tests three theories of determinants of workers’ subjective response to work situations – structural factors (measured by individual, organization and job characteristics), general disposition, or informal work arrangements as constructed by Laubach’s (2005) “consent deal.”

Design/methodology/approach: Data were obtained from the Indiana Quality of Employment Survey, a survey of workers covering general working conditions. We constructed 10 models regressing worker perceptions and attitudes (e.g. satisfaction, relations with supervisors, meaningfulness) on structural determinants. We then used structural equation modeling to identify an underlying factor representing a general worker response from elements of the attitudes and perceptions. …

The Conceptualization And Communication Of Risk Among Rural Appalachian Adolescents, Jennifer J. Moreland, Janice L. Krieger, Michael L. Hecht, Michelle Miller-Day

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This study employs a meta-theoretical perspective for examining risk perceptions and behavior in the rural, Appalachian cultural context, an area that remains largely unexplored. In-depth interviews were conducted with 113 rural adolescents to describe how youth conceptualize risk and how risk is communicated in the rural environment. Analyses revealed adolescents viewed behavior as risky when they had personal or vicarious experiences resulting in a loss of control or physical harm. Elements of the rural Appalachian culture including activities, familism, and community ties can both prevent and promote adolescent risk-taking in various forms. This study demonstrates the conceptualization of risk and …

A More Perfect Commodity: Bottled Water, Global Accumulation, And Local Contestation, Daniel Jaffee, Soren Newman

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Bottled water sits at the intersection of debates regarding the social and environmental effects of the commodification of nature and the ways neoliberal globalization alters the provision of public services. Utilizing Polanyi's concept of fictitious commodities and Harvey's work on accumulation by dispossession, this article traces bottled water's transformation from elite niche item to a product consumed by three fourths of U.S. households. Drawing on ethnographic research with participants in two cases of proposed spring water extraction from rural communities by industry leader Nestlé Waters, we make two principal arguments. First, the case of bottled water necessitates a reevaluation of …

Altering The Urban Frontier: Gentrification And Public Parks In New York City, Sarah E. Evers

Pitzer Senior Theses

After decades of cuts to federal funding, cities were left with few resources for public services, particularly parks and open spaces. Current trends of massive gentrification in New York City are changing the housing market and other components of the private sector. In addition to altering socio-spatial dynamics in the housing and consumer markets, gentrification can alter public spaces as well. By comparing three New York City neighborhoods at different stages of gentrification, I analyzed socio-spatial dynamics, public and private funding, event programming, and ethnographically observed changes in the physical and social landscape of the park, and neighborhood, over time.

Re-Placing Sprawl: Mapping Place In An American Suburb, Ryan M. Cooper

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

In the post-World War II era land development in the United States has largely been focused on the expansion away from urban centers and out into the surrounding suburbs. While the development of suburbs began with utopian ideals of spiritual wholeness, their actual manifestation on the American landscape has been subject to harsh critiques about their long-term economic and environmental feasibility, fostering of social alienation, and general placelessness. In this thesis I address the criticism of suburbs as placeless, asking ―What are the particular practices of place-making in North American suburbs?‖ Examining interviews, cognitive map surveys, participant observation, archival materials, …

Health Care Reform: Perceptions Of Nonmetropolitan Nebraskans, 2013 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley Lubben

Nebraska Rural Poll

Most rural Nebraskans currently have health insurance. Only nine percent of rural Nebraskans do not have health insurance while the majority of residents have health insurance through job benefits. These responses are nearly identical to 2004 when this question was last asked.

Persons living in the North Central region, persons with lower household incomes, persons who have never married, persons with lower education levels and persons with food service or personal care occupations are the groups most likely to be uninsured.

Most rural Nebraskans expect to have health insurance next year. Only two percent of residents do not plan on …

North Dakota’S Oil Boom And Its Effect On North Dakota Politics, Nick "Nick" Nelson

Political Science Theses and Capstones

North Dakota’s oil boom is causing some of its countries to experience significant population increases. I study the effect this is having on the politics of North Dakota. To assess the effect of increased oil production on the population of counties and its effect on the politics of those counties I gathered statistics at the county level in the areas of oil production, populations including total, black, Hispanic, white, and male populations, and voting behavior (Republican or Democrat) from the United State Census, the North Dakota Secretary of State, and the North Dakota Industrial Commission, Department of Natural Resources. My …

A Bottle Half Empty: Bottled Water, Commodification, And Contestation, Daniel Jaffee, Soren Newman

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Bottled water has rapidly been transformed from an elite niche market into a ubiquitous consumer object. Yet the literature on drinking water privatization has largely neglected the growth of bottled water and its emergence as a global commodity. This article draws on Harvey’s analytic of accumulation by dispossession to explore how commodification unfolds differently across multiple forms of water. Based on ethnographic interviews with participants in two conflicts over spring water extraction in rural U.S. communities by the industry leader Nestlé, we make three arguments. First, contestation over bottled water commodification is refracted through competing framings regarding control over local …

Emotion, Community Development, And The Physical Environment: An Experimental Investigation Of Measurements, George E. Boone

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

A wide range of research fields have studied how emotions and behavior are affected by the physical environment. This gestalt theorist approach of experimental research as well seeks to measure emotion (using the valence-arousal scale) and micro-scale community development interactions when weighted physical environment factors are adjusted. Community development (CD) interactions at the micro-scale have received but slight attention from scholars in the CD research field and this study aims partially to investigate developing objective measures from social observations. CD interactions from recordings along with self-reported emotion through surveys in four quasi-experimental groups (where the environments were constructed based on …

Environmental, Human And Socioeconomic Characteristics Of Pedestrian Injury And Death In Las Vegas, Nv, Jennifer Renee Pharr, Courtney Coughenour, Timothy J. Bungum

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

Background: Pedestrian crashes are a deterrent to physical activity, especially walking. The purpose of this study was to analyze pedestrian crash characteristics in Clark County, NV and to determine if there was a significant relationship between pedestrian crashes and socio-economic variables.

Methods: Police reported pedestrian crash data collected between January 2009 and December 2011 were analyzed. Frequencies and rates for pedestrian crashes, injuries and deaths were calculated for environmental and human characteristics. Chi square tests were utilized to determine if there were significant differences in environmental and human characteristics for pedestrian injuries and deaths. Zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) regression analysis …

Relationship Between Trust And Perceived Value Of Faculty Unionization Among Full-Time Faculty In Selected Michigan Community Colleges, Stacy L. Horner

Dissertations

Problem Statement. There are conflicting studies on the relationship between the union and nonunion faculty and trust. Studies have shown that the union environment inherently produces a distrustful atmosphere and, with a union, employees are actually more dissatisfied than their nonunion counterparts. On the other hand, this has created a cycle where faculty may not trust administration, and administration may not trust faculty. For example, when doing negotiations, each party fights on behalf of itself, instead of fighting for the betterment of the organization. However, unions can give faculty a voice with administration and state and federal government, and may …

A Sense Of Home: A Cultural Geography Of The Leschenault Estuary District: Report, Sandra Wooltorton

Research outputs 2013

Executive Summary

In 2012, a project was implemented to determine the place-based social values of the people of the Leschenault Estuary district. The project included a historical study, a literature review, a survey with quantitative and qualitative questions, targeted community engagement (five focus groups, six individual interviews) and a photo-elicitation study with a group of high school children.

Research Question

What is history of the relationship between people and place in the Leschenault Estuary District, and what is the relationship in 2012? What were, and what are the place-based social values of the population?

City On The “River Of Awe”: An Historical & Observational Study Of Missoula’S Urban River Greenway, Sandra Burch

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Urban river greenways have the potential to serve as landscapes of civic environmentalism in the American West. Missoula’s urban river corridor is such a landscape. This study seeks to assess the history of Missoula’s urban river corridor, and the degree to which the city’s current urban river greenway meets social and environmental goals. The urban river greenway in Missoula is a successful social undertaking, and its history shows a positive change in the treatment of the river as a healthy landscape feature. In order to explore this concept, historical data was gathered on Missoula’s past relationship to the river, and …

Exploring The Third Culture Building Approach For Effective Cross-Cultural Interaction For Black American Professionals In Predominantly White Institutions, Tessa R. Sutton

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Professional interactions that are both functional and mutually beneficial are rare. The purpose of this study is to explore an application of a Third Culture Building (TCB) approach, a mutually constructed interpersonal process between two individuals, for Black American professionals (with advanced knowledge acquired from institutions of higher learning), to generate a new space in Predominantly White Institutions (PWis). These institutions include settings where the racial composition is becoming consistently more diverse (through past desegregation efforts). Although the U.S. has moved beyond integration and the monumental Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, racism and intercultural barriers that prevent functional cross-cultural …

Housing, The Neighborhood Environment, And Physical Activity Among Older African Americans, Lonnie Hannon Iii, Patricia Sawyer, Richard M. Allman

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Abstract

This study examines the association of neighborhood environment, as measured by housing factors, with physical activity among older African Americans. Context is provided on the effects of structural inequality as an inhibitor of health enhancing neighborhood environments. The study population included African Americans participating in the UAB Study of Aging (n=433). Participants demonstrated the ability to walk during a baseline in-home assessment. The strength and independence of housing factors were assessed using neighborhood walking for exercise as the outcome variable. Sociodemographic data, co-morbid medical conditions, and rural/urban residence were included as independent control factors. Homeownership, occupancy, and length of …

Public Perceptions Of Environmental Management In The Puget Sound Region, Thomas G. Safford, Matthew Cutler, Megan M. Henly, Karma Norman, Phillip Levin

Carsey Publications

Using data from a phone survey of 1,980 Puget Sound residents conducted in 2012, this fact sheet describes public perceptions of different environmental interventions. Puget Sound residents widely support a range of proposed interventions designed to protect and restore the marine environment. These proposals include restricting boating and shipping activities to protect marine mammals such as killer whales and sea lions; more strongly enforcing existing environmental rules and regulations; spending government money to restore the environment for fish and wildlife; and providing tax credits to businesses that voluntarily reduce their environmental impact. Residents are divided about whether existing environmental regulations …