Sociology

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Adolescent Deviance as a Function of Parents, Peers and Community Influence
(1985) Slaght, Evelyn; Fleishman, John; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)
Recent studies conflict as to the relative importance of parents and peers as causal agents in juvenile misbehavior. Hirschi and other proponents of social control theory see parental bonding as preventing involvement in delinquency; Sutherland, Short and others envision youth as having differential learning opportunities, and see deviant peers and other negative learning opportunities in the community as more contributory to participation in antisocial acts. Part of the discrepancy in findings relative to these two perspectives has to do with the different in the way concepts are measured, based on different areas of interest. This study attempts to contrast social-emotional measure of parental influence with measure of parental control (knowledge, supervision, communication and discipline) in an effort to demonstrate the importance of the effect of parental control on deviant behavior.
Adolescents and Antidepressants: Analyzing a Social Scientific Controversy
(2007-02-19) Nelson, Amber Dawn; Mamo, Laura; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
This thesis analyzes the scientific controversy over giving antidepressant medications to adolescents as it unfolded in a U.S. Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hearing. Using the FDA hearing held on February 2, 2004, convened in response to a "crisis" evolving around the safety of antidepressant use among adolescents, this paper analyzes the unfolding response. This study utilizes social world's analysis, a qualitative methods approach designed to uncover the multiple stakes and claims of the problem as understood by each person at the hearing. I identified four distinct social worlds: 1) Adolescents, family and friends, 2) Independent professionals, 3) FDA, and 4) FDA-summoned professionals. Findings revealed that 103 actors came together around the crisis and each defined the problem of the controversy through one or more of the following four distinct frames; (1) side effects, (2) data, (3) practices and policies and/or (4) a lack of access to informed choice.
Adolescents' Attitudes Toward the Economic and Societal Responsibilities of Government in 24 Countries
(2019) White, Gregory; Kahn, Joan; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Adolescents’ attitudes toward government responsibilities for economic and societal well-being are examined in 24 countries grouped within welfare regime types. Adolescents’ own sense of civic responsibility to participate in community service is also investigated. This study uses data from the IEA Civic Education Study (1999) in combination with macroeconomic indicator data employing descriptive statistics, multiple regression, and other techniques to compare results between regimes and countries. The adolescents surveyed in 1999 are now adult members of a millennial generation that is rising in political influence. Adolescents demonstrate well-established attitudes that are consistent with those of adults in certain welfare regime contexts. Attitudes toward economy-related government responsibilities are in the expected directions for regimes with a legacy of communism, which are above the international mean, as well as in the liberal regime, which is below the international mean. Adolescents in the United States (a liberal regime ideal-type country) hold the least favorable attitudes toward government-provided economic support. In addition, adolescents’ expectations of community participation are higher in the liberal and Southern Europe regimes. Female students are more likely to believe in government provision for economic needs in liberal, Southern Europe, and post-communist Central Europe regimes. Notably, no significant gender differences are found in the social democratic regime, where women face fewer social protection risks. Female students are also much more likely than males to anticipate future volunteer community participation across regimes. Contrary to expectations, variables measuring social class have few significant or meaningful associations. Volunteering has small negative effects with belief in government-provided economic support in most regimes, and small to moderate positive effects with adolescents’ anticipated community engagement in all regimes. In addition, studying community problems has small positive effects with support for economy-related government responsibilities in several regimes (including liberal) and small to moderate positive effects in all regimes for anticipated community engagement. Finally, collective student efficacy and support for ethnic minority group opportunities have positive associations with beliefs that both governments and individuals are responsible for economic and societal needs.
African American Residential Mobility: An Analysis of Individual and Contextual Factors
(2006-05-10) Adams, Cecily Darden; Falk, William W.; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Building on the work of South and Deane (1993), I examine racial differences in residential mobility using multilevel analysis. I analyze 2001 and 2003 American Housing Survey sample data at the individual, household and neighborhood levels, and 2000 U.S. Census data at the metropolitan area level. I found that while African Americans experience higher residential mobility, after controlling for individual and contextual factors, being Black continues to decrease the likelihood of residential mobility. However, race currently has less of a suppression effect on residential mobility then previously. Home ownership remains the most important predictor of decreased residential mobility for both races. While racial differences in the determinants of residential mobility at the individual and household levels persist, metropolitan area predictors changed dramatically. Racial concentration and residential segregation measures no longer significantly predict residential mobility, while economic factors--median rent and home value--better explain racial differences in residential mobility.
After He Hits Her...Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence
(2005-11-30) Mattingly, Marybeth Jordan; Bianchi, Suzanne M; Dugan, Laura; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
In this dissertation, I examine the associations between intimate partner violence and changes in a woman's household composition, employment, and risk of subsequent assault, using the National Crime Victimization Survey. I also consider the ways in which the aftermath of assault may be influenced by injuries resulting from the violence and by the victim's reaction to the assault (self-defense and help-seeking behaviors). Recognizing competing predictions, exposure reduction versus retaliation, I assess whether women who attempt to reduce their exposure to violence are more or less likely than other victims of partner violence to be revictimized. Victims' experiences and characteristics are compared to non-victims and other types of crime victims. I provide a detailed descriptive analysis of all intimate partner victims and consider the factors associated with self-defense, injury, and help seeking for all crime victims. I pay particular attention to racial and class (education and income) differences, given that women of different races and economic situations often face very different choices and are treated differently by service providers. Intimate partner violence is most heavily concentrated among women age 16-49, women more likely partnered with men than those younger or older. Analyses focus on this age group. Findings reveal that minority women are less likely to report an assault by an intimate than are White women. Lower household income is associated with higher risk of assault. Further results suggest that victims of intimate partner violence are more likely to move out of their homes than are other women (both victims of other types of crime and non-victims). Victims of intimate partner violence look remarkably similar to non-victimized women in terms of transitions into and out of the labor force. Despite being more likely than other victims to sustain an injury and to contact the police following an assault, results suggest that help seeking and self-defense are only sometimes associated with the primary outcome variables. Finally, analyses suggest that seeking medical help for injuries and acting in self-defense are associated with an increased risk of repeat assault, while exiting the labor force corresponds to lower risk of repeat assault.
APPLYING A GENDERED LENS TO THE STUDY OF WORK AND CAREGIVING RESPONSIBILITIES AMONG CHINESE MIDDLE- TO OLDER-AGED ADULTS
(2023) Ye, Jing; Chen, Feinian; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
This dissertation consists of three papers that investigate the working and caregiving roles of middle-to-older adults and their implications for well-being in China. While existing literature predominantly focuses on older adults as care recipients, this research sheds light on the significant number of older individuals who actively participate in the labor market and provide informal caregiving to family members. Studies usually focus on either caregiving or employment while keeping the other in the background, leaving the intersection of work and caregiving responsibilities understudied. I then ask whether and how work-life conflicts, commonly discussed in the context of middle-aged women, are also applicable to the older population and are shaped by gender. Using data from the China Health and Retirement Study, the study investigates work and caregiving patterns among middle-to-older adults and explores the well-being consequences of juggling these roles. Furthermore, the research examines whether gender-based patterns persist in work and caregiving dynamics during this stage of life. The study is conducted in China, a developing country experiencing accelerated population aging, and the boundaries between work and family responsibilities are less distinct compared to developed societies. Early retirement age in the formal sector provides opportunities for older workers to engage in caregiving, while informal sector and agricultural workers may need to continue working until old age due to low pension rates. The culture of filial piety and intergenerational solidarity further encourages older generations to provide financial and caregiving support to their younger family members, leading to the common occurrence of middle-to-older adults taking on both work and caregiving roles. The first paper explores the association between living arrangements and middle-to-older adults’ work prospects, considering gender and work sector differences. The second paper examines the impacts of living arrangements on role transitions, especially the transitions of workers and worker-caregivers given their prevalence, while also considering the moderating effects of gender and residence. The third paper investigates the joint impact of work and informal caregiving on mental well-being, analyzing the differential effects based on intensity, gender, residence, socioeconomic status, and social isolation level. In the context of accelerated aging in developing countries, this dissertation highlights the contributions of middle-to-older adults and emphasizes the need for investment in and design of long-term care services to meet the demands of rapidly aging populations.
Are Leavers and Returners Different? Determinants of Coresidence After Adult Children Leave Home
(2008-08-07) Chan, Chaowen; Iceland, John; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The paper examines the determinants of coresidence between parents and adult children. Using 34 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics from 1968 to 2005 and event history models, I find that there is an unambiguous distinction between nest leavers and nest returners. Marital status and employment status of adult children are the most important time-dependent determinants of nest-returning, and older cohorts have a higher propensity to return home. Parents in good health support their children returning home when significant life events endanger the adult children's ability to live alone. Therefore I argue that coresidence is a rational support but not a competition between children's need and parent's need. Further cohort comparisons also show adult children's life events matter for older cohorts, but parents' marital disruption matters for younger cohorts.
Argentina and Chile: Politics and Fronteras in Geographies of Gender and Nation
(2004-07-21) Weathers, Gwyndolyn Jo; Korzeniewicz, Roberto P; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Over the course of the twentieth century, women in Argentina and Chile have organized in political, economic, and social arenas. In the 1980s and 1990s, sectors of the women's movement in both countries were interested in constructing agencies for women within the state, and they pushed for and achieved the establishment of the National Council on Women (Consejo Nacional de la Mujer) in Argentina, and the National Women's Service (Servicio Nacional de la Mujer) in Chile. In the mid-1990s, both agencies constructed plans designed to promote women's equality, increase inter-ministerial attention to gender, and enable more vertical ties with civil society organizations, including NGOs. The results have been mixed. The Argentine plan resulted in international funds reaching the provinces to do work "with a gender perspective," and despite the difficulties encountered because of Argentina's crisis in the early 2000s, gender-sensitive programs have been put in place at the local level, although on a very small scale. However, the civil society organizations that are involved are not necessarily those with ties to the women's movement. In Chile, the plan has resulted in increased inter-ministerial cooperation, but civil society is largely out of the loop, even when the agency openly depends upon the perception of receptivity to civil society for its own legitimacy. In the context of these relations, and the contrasts that they present, I contend that civil society-governmental relations are shifting, primarily because both women's NGOs and women's agencies in the state must re-situate themselves vis-à-vis newly emergent actors in civil society, as well as continuing negotiations for state power in a globalized economy.
Asians in the United States Labor Market: 'Winners' or 'Losers' ?
(2008-08-05) Kulkarni, Veena S.; Bianchi, Suzanne M.; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
This dissertation examines employment, earnings, and income of the six major foreign and native born Asian groups, namely, Asian Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans, and the Vietnamese for the year 2000. The dissertation makes three contributions. First, it provides an updated analysis of employment and earning attainments of Asian individuals disaggregated by countries of origin, gender, and nativity status using the latest available and most suitable data. Second, it explores the use of a non-parametric technique, namely reweighting, to assess the Asian -white earning gaps. Third, it analyzes intergroup variations in household income, inclination to pool resources, and factors associated with the likelihood of forming nuclear living arrangements. Descriptive statistics document high average levels of employment, earnings, and human capital attainments for Asians relative to whites with notable subgroup differences. The multivariate and reweighting analyses show that foreign born Asians experience greater disadvantage relative to whites than the native born Asians. The gender comparisons indicate that being native relative to being foreign born is more beneficial for Asian women than men, with native born Asian women experiencing higher earnings than white women. Additionally, there is evidence of a 'glass ceiling' among Asian men. At the household level, the descriptive associations show the relative economic position of Asian households depends on the specific measure of household income employed. Asian households experience similar or higher levels of total household income and income per labor hour employed but lower levels of per capita income than white households. Also, a higher inclination to pool resources among the foreign compared to the native born Asian and white households is seen. Intergroup comparisons indicate foreign born Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese households having a greater tendency to pool resources than the foreign born Indians and the Japanese. Multivariate analyses show a positive relationship between the householder's earnings, education, and length of stay and the likelihood of forming nuclear relative to nonnuclear households. The overall findings from this dissertation suggest that - at both the individual and household levels, the differences between the foreign and the native born Asians are more significant than the intergroup variations among Asians.
Awakening Sleeping Beauty: Promises of Eternal Youth Packaged Through Scientific Innovation
(2008-10-30) smirnova, michelle hannah; Mamo, Laura; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The definition of what constitutes "healthy" aging has recently experienced a shift in emphasis from internal to external components--especially for the white, affluent, heterosexual woman. The emergence of the skincare cosmeceutical industry and its attention to aging women's bodies raises questions about the discursive logics regarding health that both produce and are produced by modern aesthetic ideals and how they have produced this emergent aesthetic component of the "life-extension project." Similar to Nikolas Rose's (2001) "will to health", I propose that ideals of health, youth and beauty have become collapsed into a civic duty of this women--the "will to youth". A discourse analysis (124 cosmeceutical advertisements from More--a niche magazine directed at 40+ women), revealed how this industry constructs the aging woman's body as pathological by invoking the idea that the fairytale dreams of Sleeping Beauty and the fountain of youth may be realized through scientific innovations, most notably the cosmeceutical.
BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS OF CHILDREN IN L.A: EXTENDED FAMILY, NEIGHBORHOOD, AND NATIVITY
(2017) Kang, Jeehye; Cohen, Philip N.; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
This dissertation consists of three papers that examine the association between family living arrangements and internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems in children. With increasing immigration and growing heterogeneity in family forms, extended family members are of increasing importance in children’s lives. However, knowledge about extended family living arrangements is lacking. The first paper examines the association between the presence of co-resident extended kin and children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Children in the sample were found to be disadvantaged in extended households, especially with regard to internalizing behaviors. This association was found mostly among married-parent extended households. Further, this pattern emerged more clearly among children of documented immigrants, compared to those with native-born parents and those whose parents were undocumented immigrants. These findings suggest a need to revisit previous theories on extended family living arrangements. The second paper examines what kinds of household extension are associated with child behavioral problems. I specify the types of household extension by their relation to the householder—vertical, horizontal, and non-kin. Results from the cross-sectional sample indicate that horizontal extension is associated with higher internalizing behavior problems in children. However, the results from fixed effects models suggest that this pattern may be due to selection effects. Fixed effects estimations show that children moving into vertically extended household increase externalizing behaviors or that children moving out of a vertically extended household decrease externalizing behaviors. I discuss what implications this type of transition represents. The third paper examines the interaction between extended family household structure and neighborhood characteristics on children’s behavioral functioning. Findings suggest that the co-residence with extended kin is associated with both higher internalizing and externalizing behaviors for children. Although the health disadvantage of living with extended kin seems to be independent of the neighborhood income and racial minority concentration levels, extended kin moderate the associations with neighborhood structure. The advantage of living in higher-income neighborhood strengthens for extended families, reducing internalizing behavioral problems in children. Minority concentrated neighborhood functions as an advantage for extended families, decreasing externalizing behavioral problems. I conclude with discussion of future research and policy implications.
Being Single in Late-Life: Single Strain, Moderating Resources, and Distress
(2004-05-06) Pudrovska, Tetyana; Schieman, Scott; Sociology
Using a sample of 532 nonmarried adults over age 65 residing in the District of Columbia and two adjoining Maryland counties, this study examines "single strain"--the strain of not being married or not living with a partner in late-life. First, I consider how social and economic statuses affect exposure of nonmarried elders to single strain. Second, I study how sociodemographic characteristics and psychosocial resources moderate the effect of single strain on mental health. Results of multiple OLS regression analyses indicate that while social statuses influence elders' exposure to single strain, the differential emotional responsiveness of nonmarried older adults to single strain is largely unaffected by their sociodemographic characteristics. In contrast, mastery and self-esteem are powerful moderating resources: Nonmarried elders with high mastery and self-esteem are less adversely affected by single strain than those with lower levels of intrapsychic resources.
BEYOND HONORARY WHITENESS: IDEOLOGIES OF BELONGING AND KOREAN ADOPTEE IDENTITIES
(2018) Laybourn, Wendy Marie; Ray, Rashawn; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Using Asian Critical Race Theory as a framework, this dissertation examines how Korean adoption contributed to constructions of race – racial meanings and a racial order – and the effects on Korean adoptees’ identity development. This dissertation asks the following questions: What role has Korean adoption played in the U.S. racial formation? What role do various levels of social structure (e.g., media, interpersonal interactions) play in adoptees’ understanding of their belonging, both as it relates to the U.S. and Korea, and how do adoptees resolve any competing messages about their social and national citizenship? And, how do Korean adoptees make-meaning of their adoptee identity? In order to answer these questions, I draw upon three original data sources: 18 months of participant observation, an online survey (N=107), and in-depth interviews (N=37) with Korean adoptee adults.
The Big Issue of Small Businesses: Contract Enforcement in the New Russia
(2005-06-08) Vinogradova, Elena; Kestnbaum, Meyer; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The dissertation explores the problem of institution-building in nascent capitalist economies, with the emphasis on the role of culture in the genesis of new institutional forms. To help better understand the nature of the post-communist transformation in Russia, I address the questions of organizational adaptation and change in business practices resulting from the changing role of the state in the economy and society, focusing specifically on the problem of contract enforcement among small firms. The main source of data was the empirical research that I conducted in St.Petersburg, Russia, where I interviewed owners and/or managers of forty-five firms in 2001 and 2002. When firms perceive state institutions as unable to guarantee the enforcement of contracts and property rights, they rely on alternative (non-state) ways of enforcing their agreements. My research shows that these strategies can be either based on a given firm's own resources (financial or social), or come from various agencies that offer enforcement services for sale, which vary from government licensed private courts to criminals. Non-state enforcement strategies are rooted in preexisting institutions and cultural practices, and develop in response to specific kinds of state failure to provide contract enforcement. My research findings demonstrate a proliferation of non-state strategies of contract enforcement and dispute resolution, as well as the significance that state contract enforcement institutions have for economic exchange and building of market institutions. The lessons concerning the powerful structuring role of enforcement institutions which my dissertation draws from Russian experience have wider implications not only for analysis but also for policy, and contributes to the literature on the role of the state in capitalist development, and cultural neo-institutionalism. The evidence that I have collected contradicts the neo-liberal belief in the sufficiency of self-regulating markets for the smooth functioning of an economy. It supports an argument that that the capability to provide independent enforcement services for businesses is an indispensable feature of the modern state, and essential to the creation of successful modern capitalism. This is an argument of central importance not only for developing and "transition" countries, but for the long-term future of developed societies as well.
Biomedical Innovation and the Politics of Scientific Knowledge: A case study of Gardasil
(2008) Clark, Aleia Yvonne; Mamo, Laura; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Vaccine development represents a special case where historically, public health priorities are central. Trends of privatization have increased the role played by pharmaceutical and biotech companies in developing new biomedical technologies. As the innovative science behind new medical technologies moves into pharmaceutical laboratories and biotech companies, the "logics of action" that pattern knowledge production shift. This project explores how different logics of action based on commercial investment and public good shaped the development of Gardasil, a new vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. The study found that both the logics of public good and commercial profit significantly shaped the final product. The study also found that variations in the definition of public good allowed for the settlement of tensions between good and profit. The findings have implications for the future of vaccine development, as well as for the analysis of biomedical innovation in our contemporary political economy.
BLACK SURVIVAL POLITICS: ORGANIZED MOBILIZATION STRATEGIES IN AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES TO END THE HIV/AIDS EPIDEMIC
(2016) Beadle Holder, Michelle; Collins, Patricia H; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The purpose of this study is to examine organizational patterns of African American activism in response the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Given their political, economic, and social disenfranchisement, African Americans have historically developed protest and survival strategies to respond to the devaluation of their lives, health, and well-being. While Black protest strategies are typically regarded as oppositional and transformative, Black survival strategies have generally been conceptualized as accepting inequality. In the case of HIV/AIDS, African American religious and non-religious organizations were less likely to deploy protest strategies to ensure the survival and well-being of groups most at risk for HIV/AIDS—such as African American gay men and substance abusers. This study employs a multiple qualitative case study analysis of four African American organizations that were among the early mobilizers to respond to HIV/AIDS in Washington D.C. These organizations include two secular or community-based organizations and two Black churches or faith-based organizations. Given the association of HIV/AIDS with sexual sin and social deviance, I postulated that Black community-based organizations would be more responsive to the HIV/AIDS-related needs and interests of African Americans than their religious counterparts. More specifically, I expected that Black churches would be more conservative (i.e. maintain paternalistic heteronormative sexual standards) than the community-based organizations. Yet findings indicate that the Black churches in this study were more similar than different than the community-based organizations in their strategic responses to HIV/AIDS. Both the community-based organizations and Black churches drew upon three main strategies in ways that politicalize the struggle for Black survival—or what I regard as Black survival politics. First, Black survival strategies for HIV/AIDS include coalition building at the intersection of multiple systems of inequality, as well as on the levels of identity and community. Second, Black survival politics include altering aspects of religious norms and practices related to sex and sexuality. Third, Black survival politics relies on the resources of the government to provide HIV/AIDS related programs and initiatives that are, in large part, based on the gains made from collective action.
Breaking into the Public Sphere: Temporality, Context, and Innovation in the Politicization of Latin American Immigrants
(2008-11-21) Cantor, Guillermo; Korzeniewicz, Roberto P; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
This dissertation aims to improve our understanding of the political life of Latinos in the U.S., in specific local contexts and historical moments. To that end, I propose to reframe the understanding of politics and the political. Borrowing elements from political philosophy, I propose using the concept of politicization, which is primarily defined by the introduction of innovation in the public realm; the generation of consequences that affect not only those directly involved in a situation but others as well; and the intervention in a public domain that is not limited to state structures. To elaborate on this idea of politicization as well as to bring history, context, and in particular, temporality, to the center of this research, I look at two major events that crystallized the most critical landmarks in the recent political history of Latinos in the Washington D.C. area: the Mount Pleasant Riots of 1991 and "La Marcha" of 2006. In order to disentangle the process of politicization in each of the events analyzed, I examine the interplay of context (including demographic, political, and organizational features of the local Latino community), episodes of contention, attribution of opportunities and threats, social and organizational appropriation, and innovation. I then reconstruct these cases by inscribing them in their contexts and analyzing how, why, and when different consequential actions were performed. Both the Mount Pleasant riots and La Marcha involved the engagement of ordinary people in the Latino community in contentious public acts which led to the emergence of a transformed ethnically-centered political actor. I argue that this actor constitution was the result of the way in which ordinary people and various collective actors proceeded throughout the exceptional public performances, before, during, and after. My main argument is that the profile and structural location of leading organizations (e.g., dependency on government contracts, foundations' grants, employers, or ordinary people) involved in the events had a decisive impact on the actions adopted by community leaders which, in turn, affected the direction of the political path that the Latino community undertook.
Breaking Through the Brass Ceiling: Elite Military Women's Strategies for Success
(2007-11-27) Iskra, Darlene Marie; Segal, Mady W.; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
People who rise to the top of any organization must have a dedication and determination that distinguishes them from their co-workers. White men historically have held these positions due to discriminatory practices by employers, protectionist legislation, and social constructs about their leadership capabilities and motivation. Inroads into these elite positions are being made, however, both in the corporate world and in the military, by women and minority men. This study examines the women who have risen to the top of a masculine institution, and the strategies they used to "break through the brass ceiling" and become General and Flag Officers. Data were collected through several methods, including content analysis of their military biographies, self-administered surveys, and selected interviews. Results generally indicate that the women overcame the challenges they faced and took advantage of opportunities that arose. They rarely said "no" to a challenge; they did not question their ability to succeed simply due to gender, and they overwhelmingly had a positive attitude and loved the military institution. However, the ability for the women to navigate the masculine organization of the military would not have been possible without a vibrant support system, which included mentors, and supportive spouses and family. Mentorship was an important factor in the women's ability to navigate the system; mentors provided career guidance, opened opportunities, and provided personal support and advice when needed. Many also had an active family life. This was especially true for those in the Reserves; family formation was the most obvious difference between Regular and Reserve respondents. Results primarily varied by cohort, with earlier cohorts limited by institutional and legislative impediments to both their professional and family lives. This research is sociologically important because it helps to fill the gap in knowledge about the situations and behaviors that lead to career success for executive women. It is limited in that it looks only at the women in these elite positions and does not compare these findings with male generals and admirals or to women who did not rise to these levels. Suggestions for further research are provided.
Built environment and active play among Washington DC metropolitan children: A protocol for a cross-sectional study
(Springer Nature, 2015-04-27) Roberts, Jennifer D; Ray, Rashawn; Biles, Amber D; Knight, Brandon; Saelens, Brian E
Research has demonstrated that children who participate in active play are more likely to be physically active, thereby improving long-term health outcomes. Many adult studies have also shown that neighborhood built environments can encourage or discourage routine physical activity. Limited evidence has demonstrated that children who reside in neighborhoods with a built environment that is more inviting to active play exhibit lower overweight and obesity rates as well as an overall better state of well-being. This Built Environment and Active Play (BEAP) Study aims to develop a neighborhood playability rating system in the Washington, DC (DMV) area. Similar to walkability scores, these playability scores will estimate how affable a neighborhood is to active play. The BEAP Study will attempt to provide a broad view of factors influencing the level and type of active play among children. Using a cross-sectional design, the BEAP Study will collect data using a mail questionnaire administered to the parents and/or guardians of 2000 children aged 7-12 years residing in select DMV areas in October of 2014. Questionnaire data, including information on active play, home and neighborhood characteristics, parental perceptions, and sociodemographic characteristics will be merged through a geographic information system (GIS) with objective built environment measures in the participants’ neighborhoods. An ordered logit model will be used to regress an ordinal active play outcome on built environment exposure variables while adjusting for potential confounders. Upon the construction of the final model, predictor coefficients will be used as parameters in the scoring system to develop neighborhood playability scores. The BEAP Study intends to generate a neighborhood playability index by characterizing and quantifying children’s active play using parent-reported physical activity data in children, GIS data and built environment measures in participant neighborhoods. The BEAP Study will improve our understanding of the built environment and childhood playability relationship while also contributing to the body of evidence-based built environment and physical activity research.
The Changing Nature of the Retirement Transition for Dual Earning Couples
(2015) Jackson, Jonathan; Kahn, Joan R; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
My dissertation examines how dual-earning couples navigate the retirement transition differently now that women's and men's work lives have become more similar. As the retirement transition has become more complex, understanding how and when people retire requires researchers and policymakers to be attuned to the family lives in which individuals are embedded. The decision to retire is an individual choice but one's family circumstances, particularly one's spouse, can influence the process. Couples must often factor in spouses' age, health, pension assets, and health insurance coverage, especially since the work lives of many women have become much more similar to men. Whereas men's retirement decisions were seen to depend on their employment situation and women's' on their husband's, women's rising attachment to the labor force means their work lives should be increasingly important in understanding the retirement transition of couples. This dissertation fills a gap in retirement research by utilizing a life course perspective to systematically study change across cohorts in how marital partners manage the retirement transition amidst rapid structural changes in the economy. Analyses use multiple waves of data from the Health and Retirement Study, applying a variety of modeling techniques to investigate the way that couples move from employment to retirement. Specifically, I focus on retirement expectations and timing, looking at whether dual earning couples influence and synchronize each other's retirement and how this may change across cohorts. Results suggest that coordination between couples may be declining, as both husbands and wives influence their respective partners' retirement expectations less in later cohorts. Analysis of the degree to which dual-earning couples synchronize their retirement expectations show that such couples expect to retire together when they both have the pension resources to do so. Results from event history models further indicate that the retirement trajectories have changed for the leading baby boom cohort, as evidence implies they are delaying retirement longer than previous cohorts. The findings provide mixed support for the notion that wives are influencing their husbands' retirement timing more in later cohorts or that the influence of husbands on wives' retirement timing has declined across cohorts.

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