Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
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 give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
Browse
6 results
Search Results
Item Social Determinants of Cardiovascular Disease Across the Life Course(2023) Ng, Amanda Erin; Dyer, Typhanye; Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)According to data from the National Center for Health Statistics, cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, contributing to about 697,000 (or 1 in 5) deaths in 2020 alone. Given the public health burden of this disease, it is imperative that research identifies and continues to investigate population factors that may contribute to or alleviate this burden in the United States. The proposed study aimed to analyze such factors across the life course. Study 1 examined associations between an expanded set of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and childhood obesity among 10-17 year olds using the National Survey of Children’s Health, as well as sex and age differences within these associations. Study 2 investigated high optimism as a modifier and mediator of the association between childhood socioeconomic disadvantage and CVD in midlife, using the Midlife in the United States Study, a U.S. prospective cohort. Study 3 examined temporal trends in the associations between adult socioeconomic status and CVD mortality using nationally-representative data from the 1997-2018 National Health Interview Survey.Item 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.Item Operation Pedro Pan Over the Life Course(2019) Pakstis, Allyson; Moser Jones, Marian; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation examines the short- and long-term psychosocial effects of unaccompanied childhood migration over the life course of individuals who participated in Operation Pedro Pan. This program, in which over 14,048 unaccompanied Cuban children migrated by plane to the U.S. between 1960 and 1962 to flee the Fidel Castro regime, resulted in the separation of thousands of Cuban families for periods ranging from a few months to permanent separation. Operation Pedro Pan, a singular historical event, serves as a case study for investigating the implications of unaccompanied child migration on families over the life course. In this study, individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 participants in Operation Pedro Pan, and thematic analysis was used to systematically identify meaningful patterns across participant responses. The main research questions, framed by life course perspective and family resilience framework, investigated the influence of this event on the migrants’ family roles and expectations, family decision-making, parenting style, family communication, family transition, and integration into the U.S. as unaccompanied immigrant minors. This is the first study to examine Operation Pedro Pan from an outsider perspective. This dissertation is also unique in that it utilized the life course perspective and family resilience framework to investigate the experience of unaccompanied immigrant minors. The principal finding of this study is that shared Cuban family values were crucial to participants’ families’ ability to adapt to their new circumstances in the U.S. after separation of several months to several years. These shared family values likely allowed participants, their siblings and parents to be flexible in their roles and successfully adapt to living in a new country after an unexpected migration. Additionally, this research provides further evidence that the local community and the different types of support that it can provide to a newly arrived immigrant or refugee family can be essential to their acculturation process.Item Perceptions of the Transition to Adulthood for Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Young Black Men(2015) Golojuch, Laura; Roy, Kevin M; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The transition to adulthood has drastically changed in the last half century, with more young people delaying and remaking traditional markers of adulthood. Young Black men from socioeconomically disadvantaged contexts, due to experiences of early trauma and adultification and sociostructural barriers to these markers, such as limited job opportunities and racial discrimination, are uniquely situated and may have very different pathways to adulthood than their middle class peers. The present study utilized semi-structured interviews to explore the lived experiences of young Black men (n=21) in the transition to adulthood. Drawing on a life course perspective and utilizing a modified grounded theory methodology, the study examines how early experiences of trauma and adultification, as well as individual’s perceptions of adulthood, shaped the transition to adulthood. Implications for policy and future directions are explored.Item DEVELOPING PATHWAYS TO SERVING TOGETHER: DUAL MILITARY COUPLES' LIFE COURSE AND DECISION-MAKING(2010) Smith, David Glenn; Segal, Mady W; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The increase in the number and types of military families since the advent of the All-Volunteer Force in 1973 has increased the impact of the work-family interface for the military. For dual career couples, where both the husband and wife are in the military, both are subject to deployment for extended periods of time, high geographic mobility, probability of a foreign residence, the risk of injury or death, and they must manage two specialized and structured career paths (Segal 1986). The purpose of this study is to analyze the work careers and family life course of dual military couples and their decision-making processes, using a life course perspective. Using a grounded theory methodology, I interviewed and analyzed the transcripts of 23 dual military officer couples in the U.S. Navy. Results show that work and family decisions are influenced by the organizational constraints as well as institutional and cultural norms. The rhythm of life in the Navy is shaped by cyclic changing of job assignments and locations, rotation of sea and shore duty assignments, warfare specialty career paths designed for promotion, and the cultural fast track. These couples' experiences in trying to live together with collocated job assignments shape their long-term decision-making for maintaining a career in the Navy. Their experiences show that the organization's demands and far-reaching control are infused into every aspect of their lives. Couples' discourse is focused on their human agency in an effort to maintain control of their life course while meeting the organizational demands of rigid and structured career paths, increased number of sea duty tours and deployments, and perceived low priority of collocation in the assignment process. Dual career couples in this organization use a long-term perspective of the life course to cope with their current situation with the knowledge that their life satisfaction will improve in the near future as they progress in their career. These couples adapt by employing work-family prioritization strategies for achieving their personal and professional goals. Learning how to successfully combine and separate roles through these prioritization strategies reduces stress and increases life satisfaction.Item Assessing an Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control: Are There Conditional Effects of Life Events in the Desistance Process?(2005-06-15) Doherty, Elaine Eggleston; Laub, John H; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In 1993, Sampson and Laub presented their age-graded theory of informal social control in Crime in the Making: Pathways and Turning Points Through Life. In essence, Sampson and Laub state that, among offenders, strong social bonds stemming from a variety of life events predict desistance from criminal offending in adulthood. In the past decade, there has been a growing amount of research supporting this general finding. However, little research has examined the potential conditional effects of life events on desistance. Using Sheldon and Eleanor Gluecks' Unraveling Juvenile Delinquency data, their follow-up data to age 32, and the long-term follow-up data collected by John Laub and Robert Sampson, this research focuses on the potential conditional effects of marital attachment, stable employment, honorable military service, and long-term juvenile incarceration on criminal offending over the life course. Specifically, the present study tests Sampson and Laub's notion that strong social bonds predict desistance by asking two fundamental questions that bear on both theory and policy surrounding desistance from crime. First, does a high level of social integration as evidenced by the accumulation of social bonds stemming from life events within the same individual influence a person's level of offending and/or rate of desistance? Second, does the individual risk factor of low self-control or the related protective factor of adolescent competence interact with life events such that they differentially influence adult offending patterns? Using the longitudinal methodologies of semiparametric mixed Poisson modeling and hierarchical linear modeling, the analyses find additional support for Sampson and Laub's theory. First, a person's level of social integration significantly affects his future offending patterns even after controlling for criminal propensity and prior adult crime. Second, no significant interaction effects emerge between life events and individual characteristics on future offending patterns. The conclusion then is that a high level of social bonding within the same individual influences offending, regardless of a person's level of self-control or adolescent competence. The implications of this research for life-course theories of crime, future research, and policies regarding desistance are discussed.