UMD Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item Associations and Pathways between Substance Involvement and Risky Sexual Behavior over the Life Course of Urban African Americans(2015) Zebrak, Katarzyna A.; Green, Kerry M.; Public and Community Health; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)African Americans are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) relative to other racial/ethnic groups. Substance involvement has been linked to risky sexual behavior, an important risk factor for HIV/STI transmission, relatively early in the life course; yet such associations have not been found consistently among African Americans. Understanding of how substance involvement relates to risky sexual behavior among men and women over time and into midlife remains limited. The goal of this study was to examine the associations and pathways between substance involvement and risky sexual behavior over the life course in a community-based urban African American cohort (n=1242) followed prospectively from age 6 to 42 years. Using a combination of structural equation modeling and mediation testing, the study examined (1) prospective associations (from adolescence through adulthood) and within-life stage associations (in adolescence, young adulthood, and midlife) between substance involvement and risky sexual behavior, (2) the role of young adult social bonds as potential pathways linking substance use and risky sexual behavior over time, and (3) gender differences in the associations and pathways. The results revealed statistically significant positive associations between earlier substance involvement and subsequent risky sexual behavior over the life course among men and women. Greater adolescent substance use predicted greater midlife risky sexual behavior, partly through greater young adult substance problems and risky sexual behavior for both genders. Substance involvement was also positively correlated with sexual/risky sexual behavior in adolescence, young adulthood, and midlife among men and women. Although greater adolescent substance use predicted fewer young adult social bonds for both men and women, the latter was associated with decreased involvement in midlife risky sexual behavior among women only. Considered individually, young adult social bonds were not significant mediators of the adolescent substance use–midlife risky sexual behavior association for either gender. Given the complex pattern of associations and pathways between substance involvement and risky sexual behavior over time, public health interventions to address substance involvement among urban African Americans at any life stage, starting with adolescence, may have immediate and long-term effects, and direct and indirect effects on decreasing sex-related HIV/STI risk.Item Modernization, Life Course, and Marriage Timing in Indonesia(2005-12-06) Sundaram, Aparna; Vanneman, Reeve; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Past research on marriage timing in Asia has found the modernization framework to be insufficient for explaining and understanding the processes of marriage and non-marriage. Using insights provided by research on marriage timing in Western societies, we examine the determinants of marriage and non-marriage for Indonesian men and women using the 1993 and 1997 waves of the Indonesian Family Life Survey dataset. Using a logit and a hierarchical model we examine the characteristics of unmarried men and women at time 1 who had married by time 2. We find that the basic correlates of the process of industrialization - education and work-force participation have counter-intuitive associations with marriage. While level of education does nothing to delay marriage, being enrolled in school keeps people away from marriage. Work force participation in contrast increases the odds of people's marriage while earnings from work have no effect. Based on our results we argue that the processes of marriage and non-marriage are best understood using a life course perspective. The life course perspective examines how the social context that people live in influences their lives, and determines their life trajectories, and the choices they make. Seen from this perspective, events such as marriage are a part of a person's life course that follows a normative sequence. People get married at that stage in their life when they are considered ready for it. When they are in school they are viewed as minors who are not suited to starting and raising a family whereas people who are working are viewed as adults who have the stability to take on the responsibilities of a married life.