College of Behavioral & Social Sciences

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    “You're biracial but…”: Multiracial socialization discourse among mommy bloggers with Black and non-Black multiracial children
    (Wiley, 2022-06-30) Reyna, Chandra V.
    Objective This study examines thematic content and discourse surrounding multiracial socialization between Black and non-Black multiracial families on multiracial mommy blogs. Background Mommy blogs have been recognized as a medium through which mothers challenge dominant representations of motherhood, create community with other mothers, and seek out advice. But little is known about how mothers write about and discuss race, racism, and multiracial socialization online. This study addresses this knowledge gap by analyzing how a niche of bloggers—mothers to multiracial children—construct narratives surrounding race, multiraciality, and multiracial socialization online and how their narratives differ by the racial makeup of the blogger's family. Method Using a MultiCrit framework, this study analyzes 13 mommy blogs written by mothers of color with multiracial children. Blogs were analyzed for thematic content related to race, racial identification, multiraciality, and multiracial socialization. Results The findings demonstrate that mothers' orientations to multiracial socialization vary depending on whether the blogger has Black or non-Black multiracial children. Bloggers who are mothers to Black multiracial children blogged frequently about their engagement in safety socialization, whereas mothers with non-Black multiracial children did not. Conclusion The stark difference between thematic content from bloggers with and without Black multiracial children highlights the differing experiences among Black and non-Black multiracial people, for mothers of Black multiracial children, and the implications anti-Black racism has on family processes.
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    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.