College of Behavioral & Social Sciences
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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
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Item CONSTRUCTING A DISABLED IDENTITY: THE INFLUENCE OF IMPAIRMENT, SOCIAL FACTORS AND REFLECTED APPRAISALS(2010) Ridolfo, Heather; Milkie, Melissa; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The claiming of an identity as disabled has important implications for impaired individuals' interpersonal interactions and well-being, however not all impaired individuals claim a disabled identity. In this dissertation I build upon social and medical models of disability by extending the work in two key ways using multi-methods. First, using a symbolic interactionist frame, I examine how individuals' experiences are mediated through self processes in shaping their identity claims. Second, I assess how the identification process is influenced by individuals' social statuses. Data used in this study is from the 1994-1995 National Health Interview Survey on Disability, a large nationally representative sample of individuals with impairments. In addition, I supplement this analysis with data from 30 qualitative interviews. Results underscore prior research showing that not all individuals who experience impairment identify as disabled. The qualitative interviews illuminated a third group not obvious in the quantitative analysis - those in the process of negotiating a disabled identity. Experiences of socially constructed barriers have important implications for claiming an identity as disabled; however experiences of impairment also have strong effects on identity claims. In depth interviews also showed social barriers, but not environmental barriers, and impairment affect impaired persons' identity claims as disabled. Self-processes perform an important role in helping impaired individuals understand their positioning in society and verify their identity claims. Reflected appraisals of being disabled increased the likelihood of claiming a disabled identity and these appraisals mediated the relationship between the experiences of socially constructed barriers, impairment and the self. In the qualitative analyses, social comparisons and self presentations were also found to be an agentic tool used by individuals to assert their identities as disabled/not disabled and in shaping others' views of them. Finally, social statuses have important implications for the construction or rejection an identity as disabled. Those with higher social statuses were MORE likely to claim disabled identity, all things equal. In the qualitative analyses, women's disabled identity claims were often disregarded, perhaps underscoring their more difficult experience verifying their identity claims. Consistent with this, interactions between social statuses and the social and medical models were identified.Item Race and Self Image: How Mothers' Socialization Matters(2007-03-16) Ridolfo, Heather; Milkie, Melissa; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)For adolescents, having a strong Self is an important component of entering into adulthood successfully. Research suggests that despite living in a society often hostile to them, Black adolescents have Selves that is at least as strong as Whites. Using Add Health data, a nationally representative sample of Black (N=652) and White (N=1592) girls I explore racial differences in self-concepts in U.S. adolescent females. Drawing on Rosenberg's contextual theory and Black Feminist theory, this study posits that black mothers' unique socialization of their daughters may help to explain Black girls' advantaged Selves. Black girls are significantly better off than white girls on measures of the Self, and mothers' socialization may help explain some of the race differences. Black mothers were found to be more supportive, more encouraging of daughters' independence, and to have higher academic aspirations for their daughters. These factors were found to positively influence aspects of daughters' self-concept.