This dissertation research project was conducted to investigate religion as a coping resource in later life. The major proposition of the study was that intrinsic religious orientation is positively associated with mental health in late life. A forty three-item questionnaire was distributed to residents of four independent retirement communities resulting in a sixty-six percent return rate. The convenience sample of 214 individuals, with a mean age of 81.94 years, consisted of 156 female and 58 male respondents. Intrinsic religious orientation was held as the independent variable, while mental health was the dependent variable. Stress vulnerability characteristics were held as control variables including age, gender, education, stressful life events, marital status, perceived social support, and physical health. The zero order correlation between the independent and dependent variables was r = .128, sig. = .034 (1 tailed). When all control variables were entered, the relationship between intrinsic religious orientation and mental remained, r = .116, sig. = 046 (1 tailed). Regression analysis produced three predictors of mental health for females: stressful life events, age, and intrinsic religious orientation. Intrinsic religious orientation did not significantly change the relationship between stressful life events and mental health. A highly narrow variability in the sample limited …

The purpose of this qualitative interview study is to examine the lives and experiences children of incarcerated parents from a theoretical perspective through an application of the social stress process. Previous research on children of incarcerated parents has neglected to add a theoretical component to their research, which is the intention of this research. The results will be organized around the theoretical domains of the stress process applied to findings from the analysis of eleven qualitative interviews of mothers and/or caregivers of youth(s) of an incarcerated parent. Guided by analytic induction, the themes that emerged from the transcripts were applied to the theoretical propositions of the social stress process: stressors, mediators, and manifestations. Stressors experienced by children of incarcerated parents include: the incarceration of a parent, financial difficulties, and residential instability. Stress mediators include: coping mechanisms and the importance of maintaining familial ties during parental incarceration. The manifestations or outcomes include: internalizing and externalizing behaviors.

The role of social capital in forming organizational commitment is the focus of this research. Organizational social capital is the idea that social relationships have value in the organization. The theoretical framework is based on Kanter's (1993) structure of organizational commitment. This research views the structure within organizations based on global empowerment, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and social capital. In addition, the role that race, income, and education affect the organizational structure is also taken into account. The organizational configuration was assembled using a structural equation model with latent variables employing a sample of 235 certified nurse aides. The sample was collected from 10 nursing homes in the Dallas-Ft.Worth metropolitan area. It was expected that Kanter's general format is reestablished within the sample. In fact, the study found that empowerment significantly influences job satisfaction. In turn, job satisfaction does foster organizational commitment. Although Kanter's original thesis was supported in this analysis, it was also determined that social capital plays a significant mediating role in creating organizational commitment. Furthermore, this research indicates that social capital alone can create organizational commitment. Thus, in conclusion, this research builds on Kanter's original idea and argues that organizational commitment is based on job satisfaction, global …

Ethnic identity of Mexican American children under the current socio-political climate was studied. Mexican American children were expected to display symptoms of ethnic ambivalence and self-rejection. Using the Kenneth and Mamie Clark (1947) Brown doll/White doll experiment as a model, data were gathered using a mixed model. This approach combed features of experimental designs, survey research, and qualitative methods. Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered from a purposive sample of 104 children and some of their parents. They were between the ages of 3 to 15, resided in northeastern Texas, and most were White (n=70) or Hispanics (mostly Mexican American) (n=21) the remainder being Asian (n=13). Children self-identified across ethnic lines, and treated play preference, self-identification, and attractiveness separately. Children did not reflect social stereotypes and society's hierarchy. Instead, they portrayed other ethnic groups positively. Current theoretical approaches provided argue that strong ethnic identification and cultural incorporation displayed by the children may be a result of better integration and assimilation; conversely, it may be a product of the “false consciousness” driven by a global market and the culture of individualistic consumerism. An alternative theoretical perspective argues that the apparent cultural incorporation of children was a result of the social …

This study is a secondary analysis of survey data collected in fall 2000 from patients of a safety-net hospital and its eight community health outreach clinics in Fort Worth, Texas. The study examined three objectives. These include explaining the utilization of Pap smear tests among the sample who were low-income women, by ascertaining the determinants of using these services. Using binary logistic regressions analyses primarily, the study tested 10 hypotheses. The main hypothesis tested the race/ethnicity/immigration status effect on Pap smear screening. The remaining hypotheses examined the effects of other independent/control variables on having a Pap smear. Results from the data provide support for the existence of a race/ethnicity/immigration status effect. Anglos were more likely to have had a Pap smear, followed by African Americans, Hispanic immigrants, and finally, by Hispanic Americans. The persistence of the race/ethnicity/immigration status effect, even when the effects of other independent/control variables are taken into account, may be explained by several factors. These include cultural differences between the different groups studied. The race/ethnicity/immigration status effect on Pap smear screening changed with the introduction of age, usual source of care, check-up for current pregnancy, and having multiple competing needs for food, clothing and housing into the …

Guided by the life course perspective, this study examined the frequency of caregiving provided by older adults to kin and non-kin. A telephone survey produced a random sample of adults 60 years of age and older, which was predominantly White, with higher income and education levels (n = 278). Bivariate and multivariate analyses tested the impact of demographic characteristics and other variables, conceptualized as physical, human, and social capital, on the frequency of caregiving. Gender, age, health, limitations, education, income, household composition, social contact, and reciprocity were analyzed in multinomial logistic regressions. Caregiving was defined as care provided to sick or disabled persons, with frequency of providing care classified as often, sometimes, and never. The majority of older adults provided at least some care to others over a one-year period, with almost one-third doing so often and only one-quarter never doing so. Most provided care to more than one person, with over one-quarter providing care to multiple friends only. Age failed to predict caregiving involvement when physical and social capital variables were considered. The odds of often providing care are higher for women, although gender did not predict those who never provided care. Having at least some college only significantly …

This dissertation examines predictors of juror-determined damage awards among 377 juror eligible mock jurors. Citizens reporting for jury duty in a large metropolitan county on five days when the study was conducted were invited to participate. Scenarios were created that varied both case facts and witness emotion during trial testimony. Results indicate that Affect Control Theory can be applied to the situation of juror-determined damage awards and is helpful in scientifically explaining some of the variation of both compensatory and punitive damage awards.

This study uses secondary survey data collected from a sample population of clients from JPS Health Network in Tarrant County, Texas from July-August, 2000. Respondents for this study represents a group of working-age Hispanic immigrant adults, N=379. Andersen's "Behavioral Model for Vulnerable Populations" is used to as the theoretical framework. Bivariate crosstabulation revealed significant relationships for dependent variables: problems getting needed healthcare, doctor visits, emergency room visits, overnight in the hospital, and obtaining prescription medication. Findings confirm that lack of coverage, competing needs, and difficulties in the health care system are significant in access health care. Subsequent implications and policy recommendations suggests the inevitability of short and long term health consequences unless changes are made to policies and programs.

Young women today are anticipating involvement in both career and family. The competing demands of family and work often result in work-family conflict. A survey was administered to 124 female college students exploring the importance they place on work and family roles, the expectations they have for combining these roles, and their attitudes toward planning for multiple roles. Identity theory provides a foundation for understanding the choices women make regarding their anticipated participation in work and family roles. The results suggest that although college women are expecting to have demanding careers and involved family lives, they are not planning realistically in order to facilitate the combining of career and family roles with a minimum of conflict.

This study evaluated the Say It Straight™ (SIS) Training Program for its ability to improve straightforward communication, increase self-esteem, increase an individual's overall perception of group and family belonging or cohesiveness within a residential treatment setting and decrease an individual's perceived level of anomie. Effectiveness of SIS training was evaluated with paired sample t-tests (2-tailed) on six objective questionnaires given before and after training. Participation in the study was voluntary. Of the 39 patients in residence, 26 participated in SIS training, (23 attended over 80% of the sessions and 3 attended over 50%). Three were excluded from the study due to developmental or dementia-related diagnoses, 3 chose not to participate, 5 were discharged routinely prior to completion and were not post-tested; and 2 were discharged against medical advice during the training. It is interesting to notice that on the average there are about 5 discharges against medical advice per month at the facility, but during the five weeks of SIS there were only 2. Self-reports of empowering behaviors, quality of family and group life and self-esteem showed highly significant increases following SIS. Self-reports of disempowering behaviors (placating, passive-aggressive, blaming, irrelevant, intellectualizing) showed highly significant decreases following SIS and anomie showed …

This study assesses the relationship between parental supervision and children's delinquency. Data used in this study came from interviews with 99 parents from the Denton city area of Texas in 2003. A probability sample of 53 was contacted by way of randomly selected residential telephone numbers. In addition, 46 parents were non-randomly selected. Parents were asked about how much time they spent supervising and engaging in activities with their children and whether or not the oldest child exhibited delinquent behavior such as fighting, playing hooky, and being sent to detention or the principal's office. The study found that the more time parents spend in supervision and in engaging activities with their daughters, the less likely these children were to exhibit delinquent behavior. This was consistent with previous research. However, the level of delinquency of boys increased with the increase in the amount of parental supervision time, especially by fathers.

This research examines the coping processes of African American women with breast cancer and how those processes relate to low usage of cancer support groups by these women. Prior coping research has utilized predominantly White samples. The limited research on African American coping responses is conflicting and characterized by small samples and non-probability sampling techniques. In this study, 26 respondents from Central and North Texas metropolitan areas were interviewed, including 9 key informants, 9 African American breast cancer survivors, and 8 White survivors. The data suggest that African American and White women cope with breast cancer in significantly different ways. Culture appears to account for the differences. All African American breast cancer survivors identified faith as their primary coping strategy. In contrast, only half of the White survivors claimed faith as their primary coping strategy, but like the other White survivors, tended to rely on multiple coping strategies. The African American survivors conceptualized God as an active member of their support network. Most prayed for healing, and several attributed examples of healing to God's intervention. The White survivors found God's presence in the actions of other people. They prayed for strength, peace, and courage to endure the illness. The use …

The portrayals of mothers and fathers in children's literature as companions, disciplinarians, caregivers, nurturers, and providers were documented in this research. The impact of time of publication, sex of author, award-winning status of book, best-selling status of book, race of characters, and sex of characters upon each of the five parental roles was assessed using descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation, and multinomial logistic regression techniques. A survey instrument developed for this study was completed for each of the 300 books randomly selected from the list of easy/picture books in the Children's Catalog (H.W. Wilson Company, 2001). To ensure all time periods were represented, the list was stratified by decades before sampling. It was expected that parental role portrayals would become more egalitarian and less traditional in each successive time period of publication. Male authors were expected to portray more egalitarian parental roles, and the race and sex of the young characters were not expected to influence parental portrayals. Award-winning books were expected to represent more egalitarian parental roles. Books that achieved the Publisher's Weekly all-time best-selling status were expected to portray parents in less egalitarian roles. Secondary analyses explored the prevalence of mothers' occupations, parental incompetence, and dangerous, solo child adventures. While …

The older adult population in the United States is rapidly expanding both because of longer life expectancies as well as the aging of the baby boomers. While vision impairment is a growing concern among older adults, there have been few, mostly small studies, of the impact of vision impairment on this population. The present study uses a national data set, the Second Supplement on Aging (1994 -1996) from the National Health Interview Survey, in a cross-sectional study of 9,447 civilian non-institutionalized persons, aged 70 years and over at the time of their interview. The SOA II has been studied in the context of a social theory of aging that emphasizes interdependence through the life course using a stress process model that has been refined into a disability model. Disability is understood as a social construction outcome rather than as a medical outcome. Vision impairment is the stressor which is mediated by health (falls, functioning and self-health report), financial resources (education, income and having only public health insurance) and social support (marital, living along, having no living children, social activities in number and intensity). Depression is a possible, but not a necessary result of vision impairment. Disability may result when a …

The following premise is based on the ideas of social theorists who have contributed to understanding the importance of image in society. This proposal argues that political participation is susceptible to exploitation in the form of conspicuous consumption as defined by Thorstein Veblen. The analyses that follow will test the degree to which Americans who demonstrate more traditional forms of conspicuous consumption also tend to show more activity in political venues. While the correlation of these two variables is not sufficient to demonstrate cause and effect, it may be significant enough to attract more researchers to this question: are Americans using political involvement to positively influence the way that their social status is perceived by others?

Medication adherence is a formidable challenge for the elderly who may have several prescribed medications while dealing with limited incomes and declining health. The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the Liberty 6000, an automated capsule and tablet dispenser that provides proper medication dosages and is intended to encourage and track medication adherence. Seven focus groups were assembled; these comprised 49 men and women ages 65 to 98 years of Black, Anglo, and Hispanic descent who met the following criteria: living independently or semi-independently, had suffered one or more impairments, and were taking at least three prescription medications. Each focus group session lasted 90 minutes and was tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim, resulting in about 2,600 lines of text. Each question was designed to be open-ended to avoid introducing any bias that might influence the response. The Health Belief Model conceptually guided the study that addressed perceptions of illness susceptibility and severity, barriers, benefits, and cues to action associated with medication adherence. Main benefits of taking medications included avoiding inherited illnesses (or tendencies for illnesses), and reducing illness symptoms. Barriers to taking medications included forgetting, dexterity problems, and high cost. Benefits of the proposed intervention included reminding, caregiver notification, …

In late 20th century America, multiculturalism emerged as a doctrine of equal respect and a popular ideological framework for resolving intergroup relations. Despite its dramatic presence, many sociologists conclude that the rather vigorous and often contentious academic inquiries into multiculturalism left us without a solid understanding of its significance. In this dissertation I examine survey and personal interview data to more clearly identify patterns of ideological support for multiculturalism or assimilation in the U.S. public and to isolate the motivations for their preferences. Findings based on the survey data indicate that, despite multiculturalism's symbol appeal, it does not seem to guide preferences in favor of or opposition to assimilation/multiculturalism among members of most groups. According to the quantitative data, support for intermarriage is one of the few variables that positively correlates with preferences for assimilation. The interview data indicate a strong tendency among many participants to conflate the meaning of multiculturalism and assimilation. Despite their stated aspirations, many self-identified multiculturalists do not favor cultural pluralism. Apparently a significant number of the interview participants use a synthesis of multiculturalism and assimilation to frame their preferences for social convergence within an assimilationist paradigm - a perspective that only marginally resembles multiculturalism's doctrine …

This study is a multi-method, two-city, intensive, in-depth qualitative study of Huntington's disease (HD) caregivers (HDCs) in Colombia. I explored the Colombia HDCs' experience through the Hispanic culture of caring. I develop the theory of the subrogate agency based on 5 functional stages of HD from Shoulson and Fanh (1979). This study was conducted in two different regions of Colombia, Medellin and Juan de Acosta, in which high rates of HD cases have been identified. The data were collected through three methods: (a) 56 interviews with HDCs and 8 with physicians; (b) 28 participant observations of Huntington's disease sufferers (HDSs); (c) 4 interviews and 8 focus groups of 6 members each with HDCs of late HDSs. Human agency is the ability to monitor one's own action. This study showed that the gradual and serious loss of all capabilities in HDSs has a social effect on the HDSs' agency. HDSs' survival depends on the subrogation that the HDC offers to the HDS. The HDS retains self-hood, i.e. agency, through the HDC's action. This subrogation causes a paradoxical consequence, resulting in both negative and positive effects on the caregiver. The theory of surrogate agency is supported by the data. Through the progressive …

As Yancey (2003) has pointed out, the intentional character of racially integrated churches tends to lessen the social distance between Whites and minorities. The purpose of this study is to examine how racially hierarchy-attenuating and hierarchy-enhancing environments affect classism and sexism attitudes among congregations. The finding shows that multiracial churches promote H-A environment for class and race diversity, but not for gender equality. The class and race diversity is affected by organizational structure; on the other hand, gender equality is influenced by theologies. This study finds the answers to this discrepancy from the effect of biblical teachings on classist and sexist attitudes and the cumulative effect of structured domination of women.

Six serial focus groups were used to explore the perceptions of postpartum depression among nine adolescent mothers. The discussions were tape recorded, transcribed and analyzed using symbolic interaction theory, specifically Goffman's concept of stigma. Participants identified major stigma themes in relation to postpartum depression, teenage pregnancy and motherhood, all of which were portrayed negatively in the media. Several key causes of adolescent postpartum depression were also found including self esteem relating to poor body image and social support. The findings indicate a much needed change in the way adolescent mothers are identified and treated for postpartum depression. Additionally, the importance of social support in preventing and treating adolescent postpartum depression is highlighted and programs addressing such concerns must be implemented.

Secondary analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health is used to examine possible explanatory variables for sexual health outcomes. Linear and logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between sexual health outcomes and topical content in sexuality education, controlling for race, biological sex, low socioeconomic status, and religiosity. Results indicated increasing topical content in sexuality education had a positive effect on knowledge acquisition and confidence, but no statistically significant effect on engagement in sexual risk behavior or likelihood of reporting sexual coercion. Control variables were significant predictors and overall model fit was low, indicating topical content in sexuality education is minimally important in creating adolescent sexual behavior. Further exploration of differing aspects of sexuality education is suggested.

Biracial individuals undergo a developmental process that is different than monoracial individuals. Not only do they have to develop a strong and cohesive self-esteem, but also develop a strong and cohesive racial identity to have a healthy self-concept. The media is a social structure that has infiltrated into many aspects of American lives, including their racial identity. The media perpetuates current beliefs concerning race and racial identity. This research investigates how biracial identity has been portrayed in the media. Historically, biracial individuals have been portrayed as the tragic "mulatto" because of their confused racial background. In addition, mulatto women have been stereotyped as exotic and sexual objects. A content analysis was used to investigate how the media presents biracial identity. Only movies with black/white biracial individuals were watched. The categories under study included perceived race, character's race, skin color, likeability, sex appeal, ability to contribute, ability to be violent, mental health, overall positive portrayal social, and negative portrayal score. This study may suggest that the media is making attempts to rectify old stereotypes. Overall, this study does demonstrate that the media portrays biracial and black characters differently in film. One overarching theme from these results implies that the perception of …

Within the discipline of sociology human olfaction is rich with social significance yet remains a poorly charted frontier. Therefore, the following discourse is aimed toward the development of a foundation for the sociological study of olfaction. It is formed by the dual goals of unearthing the social history of olfaction and of providing a viable sociological account of the manner in which smells affect human ontology. From these goals arise the following research questions: (1) Have the meaning and social relevance of odors and the olfactory sensorium changed throughout different periods of history?; (2) How have those in the lineage of eminent sociological thinkers addressed the phenomenon of human olfaction during these periods?; and (3) What is the process by which aromatic stimuli are transformed from simple chemical compounds, drifting in the atmosphere, into sensations in a sensory field and then on to perceived objects, to subjects of judgment and interpretation, and finally to bases of knowledge which form and continually reform individuals in the world? The weaving of the sociohistorical tapestry of smell is undertaken to provide examples from thousands of years lived experiences as to the fluid and sociologically complex nature of individuals' olfactory senses. This historical information …

This study examined the relationship between reports of controlling behaviors and education/income in a sample of 297 abused women and 2951 non-abused women in married or cohabitating relationships. This study confirmed that women who reported abuse were more likely to report all five of the controlling behaviors than women who did not report abuse. However, the abuse and non-abuse samples did show similar relationships between the controlling/isolating behaviors and the SES variables. This study found that the higher the respondent's or their partner's education and income, the less likely they were to report controlling/isolating behaviors. Also, the respondent's education and income had the same number of statistically significant relationships with the controlling behaviors as the partner's education and income.