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open access

Mediational Pathways between High School Extracurricular Participation and Young Adult Educational Attainment: A Structural Equation Analysis

Description: Little is known about the mechanisms by which extracurricular participation in high school influences educational attainment in young adulthood. Also limited is an understanding of the different types of extracurricular participation and how various activities may manifest within the relationship. The purpose of this study was to examine the link between high school extracurricular participation and educational attainment, with social capital, parental expectations, and academic achievement pre… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Long, Roxanne
open access

Microcredit, Women, and Empowerment: Evidence From India

Description: Microfinance programs, by providing financial services to economically disadvantaged individuals, generally women, are intended to help poor self-employ and become financially independent. Earlier research in India has documented both positive and negative consequences of microfinance programs on women, from financial independence to domestic abuse. However, most of the research has been geographically limited to the southern states of the country, with a matured microfinance industry, and has … more
Date: December 2014
Creator: Singh, Swati
open access

Migration Information Gathering by Mexican-origin Immigrants in the Pre-migration Phase

Description: U.S. immigration procedures are complex and may elude the average individual seeking admission to the United States. Understanding this, the current study investigates how information resources are used by potential migrants to learn about the migratory process. Using a mixed-methods approach, I interviewed 30 Mexican immigrants with unauthorized immigration experience about the process of gathering migration information in the pre-migration phase. Qualitative data were coded using seven themes… more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Hudson, Cassie
open access

Modeling Place Vulnerability of HIV/AIDS in Texas

Description: This study provides a measurable model of the concept of place vulnerability for HIV/AIDS that incorporates both community and structural level effects using data provided at the ZIP code level from the Texas Department of State Health Services. Sociological literature on the effects of place on health has been growing but falls short of providing an operational definition of the effects of place on health. This dissertation looks to the literature in medical/health geography to supplement so… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Harold, Adam F.
open access

Negotiating Work-life Balance Within the Operational Culture of a Chaebol in the Southeastern United States

Description: The purpose of this study is to examine the work life balance negotiations of three distinct culture groups employed by South Korean conglomerates located within the southeastern United States. These three cultural groups are: Korean nationals, Korean Americans, and non-Korean Americans. It is proposed that each culture will negotiate work life balances in their own manner based upon their specific inherent cultural understandings. This study is a cross-cultural examination through thirty-tw… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Pulliam, Wheeler D.
open access

Our Own and the Others: What Happens to Perceptions of Immigrant Threat when Value Priorities Collide?

Description: With immigration controversies increasingly found at the forefront of the European public arena, understanding the social and cultural forces driving negative perceptions of immigrants becomes a pressing task of academic scholarship. Situated within the broader theoretical framework of group-conflict theories, human values theory and social identity theory encourage different interpretations of how our interest to the welfare of the people closest to us (benevolence) and the broader human commu… more
Date: December 2019
Creator: Grigoropoulou, Nikolitsa
open access

Participatory Management and Absenteeism and Turnover of Nursing Assistants in Nursing Homes

Description: Nursing assistants (NAs) provide the majority of daily care to older adults in nursing homes (NHs); NAs working in NHs are the focus of this study. This study examined the influence of participatory management (the independent variable), and mediating variables, burnout – measured as emotional exhaustion, task performance, and affective organizational commitment, on NA withdrawal behaviors (the dependent variables absenteeism and turnover). Most of the data come from a 113-item self-administe… more
Date: December 2019
Creator: Hughes, Susan D.
open access

Peer Networks and Health Risk Behaviors Among Adolescents

Description: Adolescence is a time of great exploration and change. During this time, youth are transitioning both biologically and sexually into adults. Adolescents are also testing the boundaries of self-reliance and making choices about their personal relationships. Not surprisingly, aggressive urges are often driven by peers in pursuit of some form of identity (Masten 2004). Peers can have both positive and negative effects on the wellbeing on youth. Peer groups can provide emotional, physical, and soci… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Niño, Michael David
open access

Postpartum Depression: A Sociocultural Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Adolescent and Adult Hispanic Mothers

Description: This dissertation is a mixed methods analysis investigating postpartum depression as it is experienced by self-reported depressed Mexican American adolescent and adult mothers. The qualitative portion of this study explores pregnancy and motherhood to better understand meanings attached to depression. Six adolescent and six adult mothers, were recruited from the Dallas/Fort-Worth area. Each was interviewed twice, using semi-structured interview guides. The quantitative phase utilizes a national… more
Date: December 2010
Creator: Gosdin, Melissa M.
open access

Prosperity Belief and Liberal Individualism: A Study of Economic and Social Attitudes in Guatemala

Description: Globalization has facilitated the growth of “market-friendly” religions throughout the world, but especially in developing societies in the global South. A popular belief among these movements is prosperity belief. Prosperity belief has several characteristics which make it compatible with liberal individualism, the dominant value in a globalized society. At the same time, its compatibility with this value may be limited, extending only to economic liberalism, but not to liberal attitudes on so… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Huang, Lindsey A.
open access

Race Differences in Religiosity, Social Support, and Quality of Life among People Living with HIV/AIDS in Dallas/ Ft. Worth, TX

Description: This study examines race differences and the relationship between religiosity/ spirituality and social support on quality of life (QOL) among people living with HIV/AIDS in Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX. The data were obtained from the Project VOICES research study conducted by the Center of Psychosocial Health Research at University of North Texas in 2003. This study explores the hypotheses that religiosity/spirituality and social support positively influences quality of life among people living with H… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Henderson, Kenya Y. Kemp
open access

Relative Effectiveness of Anti-poverty Nonprofit Organizations in Assisting a Below Poverty Population in Dallas County and Tarrant County: Recipients of Faith-based and Non Faith-based Organizations

Description: Recent orders from the executive branch of the United States’ government have encouraged participation from faith-based organizations in providing human services because they are more effective in aiding impoverished citizens. This study examined the effectiveness of faith-based and non faith-based anti-poverty nonprofit organizations to find if one organization type is more effective in providing social services. the data for this study were collected through a survey-questionnaire which was a… more
Date: May 2012
Creator: Gregory, Callie
open access

Religious Identity and Interreligious Communications: Predicting In-Group and Outgroup Bias with Topic-Sentiment Analysis

Description: Intergroup relations and the factors affecting them constitute a subject of recurring interest within the academic community. Social identity theory suggests that group membership and the value we assign to it drives the expression of in-group favoritism and outgroup prejudice, among other intergroup phenomena. The present study examines how (ir)religious identities are related to topic-sentiment polarization in the form of positive in-group and negative outgroup bias during interreligious deba… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Grigoropoulou, Nikolitsa
open access

Religiousness and Spirituality: How Are They Related to Moral Orientations?

Description: This dissertation examines correlations between religiousness and spirituality, to moral orientations using moral foundations theory as a framework. Using the 2012 Measuring Morality dataset, which provides a representative sample of the population of the United States, I create linear regressions which test associations between religiousness, spirituality, and each of the five moral foundations ((harm/care, fairness, in-group loyalty, respect for authority, and purity). I find that religiousne… more
Date: August 2017
Creator: Gabhart, Elizabeth A.
open access

The Role of Family in Alcohol Consumption Among Turkish Adolescents

Description: Alcohol consumption among adolescents is an important issue because of its link to many negative social and health problems, including depression, suicide, and aggression. Drawing from Hirschi’s social bonding theory and Agnew’s general strain theory, this study examines the effects of family relations on alcohol consumption among Turkish adolescents. Social bonding theory suggests that individuals with stronger social bonds are less likely to use alcohol than individuals with weaker social bon… more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Gurbuz, Suheyl

The Role of Male Fashion in Protests against the Majority Culture: An Exploratory Study

Description: Throughout history, the Black Diaspora has used fashion as a form of protest. The element of fashion is often overlooked when considering the history and struggle for Black equality, because it is less tangible or definable in terms of its influence and effect, but it is still important because Black males resist the dominant culture via dress by dressing in military uniforms, creating their own style, and using different colors in their dress. Studying the Black struggle in American history du… more
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Date: August 2019
Creator: Greenidge, Giselle C. M.
open access

Routine Leisure Activities and Adolescent Marijuana Use: Moderating Effects of Family Structure

Description: How adolescents spend their time is a crucial predictor of their engagement in delinquency. Activities with peers away from direct supervision of adults are of concern as more opportunities and motivation to use marijuana exist in such situations. However, adolescents may vary in their propensity to use marijuana when faced the opportunity. Especially adolescents living with a single parent may have a higher propensity compared to those from two-parent households to use marijuana due to reduced… more
Date: May 2010
Creator: Aksu, Gokhan
open access

Slogans and Opposition Political Culture: Online Discourse in Iran's Green Movement

Description: In this study I investigate the Iranian Green Movement supporters' use of slogans as political discourse on the Persian-language opposition website www.kaleme.com. Data was collected from the website's Kaleme section in the form of 22 articles and 3,500 user comments. A coding scheme was constructed to measure the presence of categories and themes in the site's comments section. Findings support the propositions of narrative theorists (e.g. Franzosi, 1998; Benford, 1993) that frequent use of sl… more
Date: December 2012
Creator: Ryan, Trent
open access

Social Capital and Delinquency among Turkish Juveniles

Description: This study examined the relationship between aspects of social capital and self-reported delinquency among Turkish juveniles by using a secondary dataset, which is a part of the European Youth Survey. The survey was conducted among tenth graders in 2007 in Bağcılar, Istanbul. The dependent variable of this study, delinquency, was divided into two groups, minor and major, according to the stipulations of the Turkish Penal Code. Social capital was measured by assessing adolescents’ reports of the… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Cubukcu, Suat
open access

Social Capital and Health Among Older Adults in China: a Multi-level Analysis

Description: Health and well-being of older adults has become a worldwide public health concern and has been attracting increasing attention from scholars across the globe. But little is known about the health of the Chinese elderly. Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) --Pilot, a pilot survey in 2008 in two provinces of China, Gansu and Zhejiang, this dissertation examines the association between social capital at both the individual- and community- levels and three h… more
Date: August 2012
Creator: Shen, Yuying
open access

Social, Demographic, and Institutional Effects on African American Graduation Rates in U.S. Colleges and Universities.

Description: Improving the retention and graduation of African Americans and other minority groups in higher education is an important but highly politicized issue on college and university campuses. Prior studies emphasize the relationship between minority retention and achievement, cultural diversity, and racial policies and climates at predominantly White colleges and universities in the United States. In response to the need for further research, the effects of institutional actions related to diversi… more
Date: May 2010
Creator: Wright, LaQueta L.
open access

The Social Psychology of Social Media Reactions to Terrorism

Description: Columnists and social media users commonly stated that terrorist attacks resonate differently in the world and they speculated on some potential reasons such as familiarity, number of victims, and the difference in expectations of a country to be a stage for a terrorist attack to explain this difference. An academic perspective, more specifically a sociological one, is needed to bring light to this debate. In this study, I aimed to understand the discourse after terrorist attacks and to find o… more
Date: December 2016
Creator: Demirhan, Emirhan
open access

Social Vulnerability and Faith in Disasters: an Investigation Into the Role of Religion in New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina

Description: Disasters are an ever increasing phenomena in our society, resulting in many people being adversely affected. the social vulnerability paradigm explores the social, economic and political factors which contribute to certain populations being disproportionately affected by disasters. However, the paradigm has not yet begun to investigate the cultural or religious ideologies which may affect a population's behavior in disaster. This study is an exploratory investigation into whether religious ide… more
Date: May 2012
Creator: Herring, Alison M.
open access

Socioeconomic Status and Prosperity Belief in Guatemala

Description: A popular belief in the exploding Pentecostal movement in the global South is the idea that if an individual has enough faith, God will bless them with financial prosperity. Although historically Pentecostalism has been identified as a religion of the poor, this study examines recent arguments that the current Pentecostal movement in Guatemala is a religion of the socially mobile middle and elite classes. Data from the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life’s 2006 survey Spirit and Power: Surve… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Johnson, Lindsey A.
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