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 Essays on Mental Health, Education, and Parental Labor Force Participation(2024) Nesbit, Rachel; Kuersteiner, Guido; Pope, Nolan; Economics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation consists of three chapters in empirical microeconomics. The first chapterfocuses on mental health in the criminal justice system. I show that mandated mental health treatment during probation decreases future recidivism and further that paying for these probationers to receive treatment would be a very cost-effective program. The second chapter focuses on the labor supply of same-sex couples. My coauthors and I document the earnings patterns in same-sex couples after the entrance of their first child and contrast them with the earnings patterns in opposite-sex couples. The third chapter evaluates state-level policies to offer a college admissions exam (either the SAT or ACT) free to all high school students. I estimate precise null effects of the policies on future college attendance. The three chapters are described in further detail below. Chapter 1. Mental health disorders are particularly prevalent among those in the criminaljustice system and may be a contributing factor in recidivism. Using North Carolina court cases from 1994 to 2009, this chapter evaluates how mandated mental health treatment as a term of probation impacts the likelihood that individuals return to the criminal justice system. I use random variation in judge assignment to compare those who were required to seek weekly mental health counseling to those who were not. The main findings are that being assigned to seek mental health treatment decreases the likelihood of three-year recidivism by about 12 percentage points, or 36 percent. This effect persists over time, and is similar among various types of individuals on probation. In addition, I show that mental health treatment operates distinctly from drug addiction interventions in a multiple-treatment framework. I provide evidence that mental health treatment’s longer-term effectiveness is strongest among more financially advantaged probationers, consistent with this setting, in which the cost of mandated treatment is shouldered by offenders. Finally, conservative calculations result in a 5:1 benefit-to-cost ratio which suggests that the treatment-induced decrease in future crime would be more than sufficient to offset the costs of treatment. Chapter 2. Existing work has shown that the entry of a child into a household results in alarge and sustained increase in the earnings gap between male and female partners in oppositesex couples. Potential reasons for this include work-life preferences, comparative advantage over earnings, and gender norms. We expand this analysis of the child penalty to examine earnings of individuals in same-sex couples in the U.S. around the time their first child enters the household. Using linked survey and administrative data and event-study methodology, we confirm earlier work finding a child penalty for women in opposite-sex couples. We find this is true even when the female partner is the primary earner pre-parenthood, lending support to the importance of gender norms in opposite-sex couples. By contrast, in both female and male same-sex couples, earnings changes associated with child entry differ by the relative pre-parenthood earnings of the partners: secondary earners see an increase in earnings, while on average the earnings of primary and equal earners remain relatively constant. While this finding seems supportive of a norm related to equality within same-sex couples, transition analysis suggests a more complicated story. Chapter 3. Since 2001, more than half of US states have implemented policies that requireall public high schools to administer either the ACT or SAT to juniors during the school day free of charge, making that aspect of the college application process less costly in both time and money. I evaluate these policies using American Community Surveys (ACS) from 2000 to 2019. I augment ACS data with the Census Master Address File to precisely identify the state in which individuals took the exam. Exploiting variation in policy implementation across state and time, I find across all specifications that increased access to standardized college entrance exams has no effect on subsequent college attendance. It also does not shift students between public and private colleges or between two- and four-year programs. The results of this chapter suggest that, to the extent that these policies were introduced to encourage college-going among marginal students, they did not accomplish their goal. This provides evidence about the kinds of support necessary to influence educational outcomes for students from disadvantaged families.Item LGBTQ Community Belonging and Involvement as Predictors of Sexual Minorities' Well-Being(2021) Burrows, Michael; Mohr, Jonathan J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Sexual minorities (SM; i.e., lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and asexual+) experience high rates of discrimination and stigma, which account for mental health disparities based on sexual orientation (Cochran, 2001; Meyer, 2003). A growing body of research suggests that LGBTQ community may be a source of resilience. This thesis examines two ways that SM can interact with and experience LGBTQ community: LGBTQ community belonging (a subjective sense of belonging or being a part of LGBTQ community; Frost & Meyer, 2012; Puckett et al., 2015) and community involvement (engagement in LGBTQ nightlife, social clubs, politics, and community sports; Foster-Gimbel et al., 2020).Across two time points over an approximately 6.5 week period, 171 SM completed surveys assessing LGBTQ community belonging and community involvement, psychological well-being (depression, anxiety, loneliness, positive affect, and satisfaction with life), perceived social support, and internalized stigma. Analyses focused on (a) relations between community variables (belonging and involvement) and well-being over time, and (b) the potential mediating roles of social support and internalized stigma in these relations. Most hypothesized relations between community variables and future well-being did not emerge. However, results supported associations between community involvement and future satisfaction with life, even after controlling for LGBTQ community belonging. Results also suggested that specific types of community involvement related in unique ways to facets of well-being in the future. Results did not support any of the hypothesized mediated relationships.Item Minority Stress, Pandemic Stress, and Mental Health among Gender Diverse Young Adults: Gender Dysphoria and Emotion Dysregulation as Mediators(Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 2022) Pease, M; Le, Thomas; Iwamoto, DerekGender diverse people in the United States are uniquely vulnerable to deleterious health outcomes because of long-enshrined systems of oppression and marginalization in American society. Trans young adults are especially vulnerable to these deleterious outcomes owing to their unique position in the life course. However, more research is needed on the mechanisms through which this marginalization contributes to mental health disparities in trans populations. Using a minority stress framework and online cross-sectional survey design, the current study examines potential mediators of the relationship between transgender identity-related distal stress and psychological distress from late May to early July 2020 in a sample of transgender young adults (N = 239; ages 18–29). More than half the sample scored above the K6 cutoff for severe psychological distress. Distal stress had a significant direct (β = .17, SE = .04, t = 2.76, p = .006) and indirect effect on psychological distress. Distal stress was indirectly associated with psychological distress through gender dysphoria (β = .04; 95% CI [.001, .10]) and emotion dysregulation (β = .16; 95% CI [.09, .23]). COVID-19 pandemic stressors were also positively associated with psychological distress (β = .36, SE = .12, t = 5.95, p < .001). Results highlight the significant mental health burden facing the trans community especially in the COVID-19 context, support a conceptualization of gender dysphoria as connected to experiences of oppression, and affirm the relevance of emotion dysregulation within minority stress frameworks. Mental health resources cognizant of the specific challenges experienced by trans young adults as well as policy changes that seek to address underlying structural transphobia in American culture and institutions are urgently needed.Item Stress, Mental Health, and Self-Care among Refugee Teachers in Malaysia(2020) Gosnell, Nicole; O'Neal, Colleen; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The mental health of post-conflict refugee teachers is understudied, yet critically important given the current refugee crisis which has displaced more than 70 million people (UNHCR, 2019). Teachers in hidden refugee schools are often refugees themselves, have little teacher education, and are faced with overwhelming classroom demands and other unique stressors. This study utilizes a mixed method design to examine stress, mental health (i.e., depression, and anxiety), and self-care among teachers in hidden refugee schools in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Quantitative data are archival, collected in Malaysia in 2013. Quantitative study participants included 97 primarily Burmese refugee teachers and 26 non-refugee teachers living in Malaysia. Quantitative measures included (a) Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS); (b) a self-care strategies questionnaire, and (c) a demographic questionnaire. Quantitative results suggest that refugee teachers have significantly higher rates of mental health and stress, but lower rates of self-care as compared to their non-refugee peer teachers. In addition, higher rates of self-care are associated with lower rates of mental health symptoms and stress rates; the association is moderated by age. Qualitative data were collected in June 2018 via individual interviews with eleven Burmese refugee teachers working in Malaysia. Qualitative results shed light on the unique definitions and experiences of stress, mental health, and self-care among refugee teachers in the context of macrolevel factors. Overall, this dissertation found that macrolevel factors unique to being a refugee impact refugees’ rates, experiences, and definitions of microlevel mental health symptoms, stress, and self-care.Item Grandparent Wealth and the Well-Being of Black & White Young Adults(2019) Brown, Joey D; Cohen, Philip N; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Social origins are important predictors of adult success, and parental resources, particularly parental wealth, are positively correlated with adult well-being. Meanwhile, the overall population is now healthier and living longer than previous generations. Therefore, families are experiencing increased opportunities for multigenerational relationship formation and investment. This dissertation extends social mobility and stratification research by considering how multigenerational resources are related to young adult well-being. I examine how grandparents’ accumulated wealth prior to individuals’ eighteenth birthday is related to young adults’ educational attainment, self-rated general health and mental health, and financial independence. Additionally, in light of large, enduring racial wealth gaps between Black and White identified people, I examine whether and to what extent racially disparate patterns of family wealth accumulation condition the relationship between grandparent wealth and young adult well-being. I perform this investigation with analysis of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the PSID’s Transition to Adulthood Study (TAS). I employ multivariate longitudinal analysis techniques to perform interracial and intra-racial analyses of the relationship between grandparent wealth and young adult well-being. I decompose racial group gaps to see whether the results are attributable to family socioeconomic characteristics or the return to those characteristics. Lastly, I use marginal probabilities to examine and compare the absolute and relative consequences of racially disparate levels of grandparent wealth across well-being outcomes.Item MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS OF RACE AND THE MENTAL HEALTH OF LATINOS FROM AFRO-LATIN AMERICA(2018) Pena, Jessica Elaine; Marsh, Kris; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Building on past scholarship on the processes of racialization of Latinos, this dissertation addresses the role of both internal and external factors in influencing racial classification and the implications of race on the mental health outcomes of Latinos of Afro-Latin American origin. Latinos of this population have unique experiences with racial/ethnic boundaries and racialization, as many do not fit the dominant image of latinidad across the United States. This dissertation asks the following questions: How does the social context of metropolitan areas impact racial self-classification practices of Latinos? How do physical and external factors – such as skin tone, race of partners and observers – impact how Latinos are racially ascribed or self-classify? What are the mental health implications of the lived experience of race for Latinos? I draw upon the 5-year 2012-2016 American Community Survey (ACS) data and Waves 3 and 4 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) data to address these questions.Item Identity as Chronic Strain and Coping Strategy in the Job Loss Process(2012) Norris, Dawn; Milkie, Melissa A.; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Involuntarily losing a major social role, such as employee, may trigger a process of decline in mental health due to changes in time use, social networks, and resources. However, the experience of role loss and associated mental health outcomes is also conditioned by one's subjective experience of salient identities. I argue that exploring the ways in which identities relate to the stress process will provide us with a better understanding of mental health outcomes that follow involuntary role loss. The linkages among three strands of literature - mental health and identity, stress process, and work and occupations - have not been explored systematically. Using involuntary job loss as an illustrative example, I build on the concepts of identity discrepancies and the stress process by examining participants' identity change, identity work, and distress levels. In my research, I use data from in-depth interviews conducted at two points in time (about three months apart) from 25 unemployed or underemployed former white-collar employees. I show that involuntary job loss may trigger identity discrepancies that produce identity-based distress, but that identity work may be used to relieve this distress. I identify three types of identity discrepancies experienced by participants: verification discrepancies; temporal consistency discrepancies; and status consistency discrepancies. I also show that unemployed or underemployed people may engage in specific types of identity work to cope with and reduce the distress produced by identity discrepancies, and I identify three paths on which people may end up after job loss: 1) shifting; 2) sustaining; and 3) identity void. My results show that not all paths are equally available to everyone. Rather, structural factors guide and shape their identity work options. Specifically, social statuses and the extent of one's involvement in social institutions (e.g., family) expand or constrain these options. One's conceptions of past and future identities are also important to this process. This study demonstrates why we should include identity in processual models of distress and coping, shows how structural factors (i.e., statuses and social institutions) expand or constrain one's identity work options after job loss, and illustrates why we should expand our conceptions of identities to include the past and future. I also discuss ways in which my findings may be applied to involuntary role losses more broadly, as well as links to classic theories of the interrelation between self and society.Item Institutional Involvement and the Mental Health Effects of Perceived Neighborhood Disorder in Old Age: The Role of Personal and Divine Control(2007-04-23) Bierman, Alex; Milkie, Melissa A.; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Previous research has shown that perceptions of neighborhood disorder are related to increased levels of psychological distress. Neighborhood disorder may be especially salient for older adults because the transitions associated with aging heighten the salience of the neighborhood as an arena for social interaction. A stress-process perspective suggests that the effects of neighborhood disorder on mental health may be indirect, and mediated through harm in elders' self-concepts, but also that the structural arrangements in which individuals are embedded may protect elder's mental health by protecting the self. I add to this perspective by focusing on engagement in family and religious institutions as primary indications of enmeshment in the structural arrangements of society. Using a longitudinal study of older adults, I examine whether marriage prevents the mental health effects of perceived neighborhood disorder by protecting mastery, and whether attendance at religious services and prayer protect elders' mental health by preventing loss of a second type of perceived control, sense of divine control. Results show that marriage prevents the effects of neighborhood disorder on depression and anger by preventing a loss of mastery. Further, losses in mastery strengthen the effects of neighborhood disorder on mental health, but only for women and the less educated. Neighborhood disorder is also related to loss of sense of divine control, but only for elders with greater levels of education, and religious involvement helps prevent these effects. However, this moderation provides no mental health benefits, and change in sense of divine control does not alter the relationship between neighborhood disorder and mental health. A primary contribution of this dissertation is that it places the effects of perceived neighborhood disorder in a larger structural context by demonstrating that they are contingent on engagement in the social structures which pattern human behavior and sustain the structure of society.