bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Classification as Culture: Types and Trajectories of Music Genres
Authors: Lena Jennifer C. , Peterson Richard A.
Published: January 2010

Questions of symbolic classification have been central to sociology since its earliest days, given the relevance of distinctions for both affiliation and conflict. Music and its genres are no exception, organizing people and songs within a system of symbolic classification. Numerous studies chronicle the history of specific genres of music, but none document recurrent processes of development and change across musics. In this article, we analyze 60 musics in the United States, delineating between 12 social, organizational, and symbolic attributes. We find four distinct genre types—Avant-garde, Scene-based, Industry-based, and Traditionalist. We also find that these genre types combine to form three distinct trajectories. Two-thirds originate in an Avant-garde genre, and the rest originate as a scene or, to our surprise, in an Industry-based genre. We conclude by discussing a number of questions raised by our findings, including the implications for understanding symbolic classification in fields other than music.
Cultural Globalization and Arts Journalism: The International Orientation of Arts and Culture Coverage in Dutch, French, German, and U.S. Newspapers, 1955 to 2005
Authors: Janssen Susanne , Kuipers Giselinde , Verboord Marc
Published: January 2010

This article charts key developments and cross-national variations in the coverage of foreign culture (i.e., classical and popular music, dance, film, literature, theater, television, and visual arts) in Dutch, French, German, and U.S. elite newspapers between 1955 and 2005. Such coverage signals the awareness of foreign culture among national elites and the degree and direction of “globalization from within.” Using content analysis, we examine the degree, direction, and diversity of the international orientation of arts journalism for each country and cultural genre. Results denote how international arts and culture coverage has increased in Europe but not in the United States. Moreover, the centrality of a country in the cultural “world-system” offers a better explanation for cross-national differences in international orientation than do other country-level characteristics, such as size and cultural policy framework. Recorded and performance-based genres differ markedly in their levels of internationalization, but the effect of other genre-level characteristics, such as language dependency and capital intensiveness, is not clear. In each country, international coverage remains concentrated on a few countries, of which the United States has become the most prominent. Although the global diversity of coverage has increased, non-Western countries are still underrepresented.
Hispanic Segregation in Metropolitan America: Exploring the Multiple Forms of Spatial Assimilation
Authors: Iceland John , Nelson Kyle Anne
Published: January 2010

This article investigates patterns of spatial assimilation of Hispanics in U.S. metropolitan areas. Using restricted-use data from the 2000 Census, we calculate Hispanics' levels of residential segregation by race and nativity and then estimate multivariate models to examine the association of group characteristics with these patterns. To obtain a more nuanced view of spatial assimilation, we use alternative reference groups in the segregation calculations-Anglos, African Americans, and Hispanics not of the same race. We find that Hispanics experience multiple and concurrent forms of spatial assimilation across generations: U.S.-born White, Black, and other-race Hispanics tend to be less segregated from Anglos, African Americans, and U.S.-born Hispanics not of the same race than are the foreign-born of the respective groups. We find some exceptions, suggesting that race continues to influence segregation despite the general strength of assimilation-related factors: Black Hispanics display high levels of segregation from Anglos, and U.S.-born Black Hispanics are no less segregated from other Hispanic groups than are their foreign-born counterparts.
Beyond the Census Tract: Patterns and Determinants of Racial Segregation at Multiple Geographic Scales
Authors: Lee Barrett A. , Reardon Sean F. , Firebaugh Glenn , Farrell Chad R. , Matthews Stephen A. , O'Sullivan David
Published: January 2010

The census tract—based residential segregation literature rests on problematic assumptions about geographic scale and proximity. We pursue a new tract-free approach that combines explicitly spatial concepts and methods to examine racial segregation across egocentric local environments of varying size. Using 2000 Census data for the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, we compute a spatially modified version of the information theory index H to describe patterns of Black—White, Hispanic-White, Asian-White, and multigroup segregation at different scales. We identify the metropolitan structural characteristics that best distinguish micro-segregation from macro-segregation for each group combination, and we decompose their effects into portions due to racial variation occurring over short and long distances. A comparison of our results with those from tract-based analyses confirms the value of the new approach.
The Effect of Sibship Size on Educational Attainment in China: Period Variations
Authors: Lu Yao , Treiman Donald J.
Published: January 2010

In industrialized nations, sibship size generally depresses educational attainment: the larger the number of siblings, the lower the educational attainment. This association is much less consistent in developing nations, however. This article examines the effect that the number of siblings has on educational attainment in China, a nation that has experienced sharp vacillations between policies designed to promote equality (between urban and rural residents and between men and women) and policies designed to promote economic development. The implementation of these policies in the educational arena has alternately reduced and increased competition for educational resources and, as we show, has correspondingly reduced and increased the effect of sibship size on educational attainment.
Changing Relationships between Education and Fertility: A Study of Women and Men Born 1940 to 1964
Authors: Kravdal Øystein , Rindfuss Ronald R.
Published: January 2010

Education and fertility (including childrearing) are foundational processes in societal metabolism, and the relationship between them can have profound, long-term effects on a variety of institutions, including the labor market, the family (especially care for the elderly), and educational institutions themselves. In postindustrial countries, conventional wisdom holds that there is a strong inverse relationship between education and completed fertility, but this has not been carefully examined in recent decades, and the topic has been almost completely neglected for men. In this article, we address these core questions and relations, drawing on the Norwegian population registers for cohorts born 1940 to 1964. Among women, the relationship between completed fertility and educational level attained at age 39 has become substantially less negative. In all cohorts, better-educated women have later first births and remain childless more often than do the less educated. The negative effect of education on higher-order birth rates net of the impact of later motherhood has, however, disappeared. Family-friendly ideologies and policies, including better access to high-quality daycare, are likely the engine behind this shift. Among men, a positive relationship has emerged: the better educated become fathers later than others, but fewer remain childless, and there has been an increasingly stimulating effect of education on second- and third-birth rates. We discuss these sex differences in light of the persistent differences between mothers' and fathers' roles.
The Collective Dynamics of Racial Dehumanization and Genocidal Victimization in Darfur
Authors: Hagan John , Rymond-Richmond Wenona
Published: January 2010

Sociologists empirically and theoretically neglect genocide. In this article, our critical collective framing perspective begins by focusing on state origins of race-based ideology in the mobilization and dehumanization leading to genocide. We elaborate this transformative dynamic by identifying racially driven macro-micro-macro-level processes that are theoretically underdeveloped and contested in many settings. We investigate generic processes by exploiting an unprecedented survey of refugees from the ongoing genocide in Darfur. Our focus is on the Sudanese government's crisis framing of a dehumanizing collective process. Sudanese forces joined with Janjaweed militia to attack black African settlements. They aggregated and concentrated racial epithets in a collective process of dehumanization and organized terror, which amplified the severity of genocidal victimization, the lethal and lasting scar of the genocidal state. Our findings question primordial and counter-insurgency explanations, while supporting aspects of the instrumental, population-resource, constructionist, and cognitive perspectives that form the foundation of our critical collective framing perspective. It has been more than 50 years since Sutherland famously added white-collar crime to public sociology, radically reordering discourse about crime. It is time to do the same with Raphael Lemkin's concept of genocide.
Embeddedness and Identity: How Immigrants Turn Grievances into Action
Authors: Klandermans Bert , van der Toorn Jojanneke , van Stekelenburg Jacquelien
Published: January 2010

The social and political integration of Muslim immigrants into Western societies is among the most pressing problems of today. Research documents how immigrant communities are increasingly under pressure to assimilate to their “host” societies in the face of significant discrimination. In this article, we bring together two literatures—that on immigrants and that on social movement participation—to explore whether Muslim immigrants respond to their societal situation by engaging in collective political action. Although neither literature has given much attention to immigrant collective action, they do provide predictive leverage relative to the influence of grievances, efficacy, identity, emotions, and embeddedness in civil society networks. Our analyses are comprised of three separate but identical studies: a study of Turkish (N = 126) and Moroccan immigrants (N = 80) in the Netherlands and a study of Turkish immigrants (N = 100) in New York. Results suggest that social psychological mechanisms known to affect native citizens' collective action function similarly for immigrants to a great extent, although certain immigrant patterns are indeed unique.
The Global Economy as Instituted Process: The Case of Central and Eastern Europe
Authors: Bandelj Nina
Published: January 2010

I argue that economic globalization, indicated by the tremendous rise in world foreign direct investment (FDI) in recent decades, is not driven simply by investor considerations of economic risk and return, but is significantly shaped by the construction of demand for foreign capital by receiving states. States signal this demand through the levels of formal and substantive legitimacy they grant to FDI. They institutionalize globalization in formal rule as a normatively desirable development strategy. States substantiate this commitment by providing domestic and foreign actors with ideational and organizational resources to facilitate FDI. To illustrate this argument, I use the case of Central and Eastern Europe, which was largely closed to global capital before the collapse of Communism. Analyses of quantitative and qualitative data show that substantive legitimacy granted to FDI by host states, more than formal regulations, determined the size of foreign capital flows into postsocialist countries in the first decade of market reform. These findings point to social foundations of macroeconomic trends beyond the instrumental considerations of risk and return privileged in previous research.
Normalizing Heterosexuality: Mothers' Assumptions, Talk, and Strategies with Young Children
Authors: Martin Karin A.
Published: January 2010

In recent years, social scientists have identified not just heterosexism and homophobia as social problems, but also heteronormativity-the mundane, everyday ways that heterosexuality is privileged and taken for granted as normal and natural. There is little empirical research, however, on how heterosexuality is reproduced and then normalized for individuals. Using survey data from more than 600 mothers of young children, ages 3 to 6 years old, this article examines how mothers normalize heterosexuality for young children. The data suggest that most mothers, who are parenting in a gendered and heteronormative context to begin with, assume that their children are heterosexual, describe romantic and adult relationships to children as only heterosexual, and make gays and lesbians invisible to their children. Those who consider that their children could some day be gay tend to adopt one of three strategies in response: Most pursue a passive strategy of “crossing their fingers” and hoping otherwise. A very few try to prepare their children for the possibility of being gay. A larger group, primarily mothers from conservative Protestant religions, work to prevent homosexuality. I conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for understanding sexual identity development and the construction of heteronormativity.
Legal-Political Pressures and African American Access to Managerial Jobs
Authors: Skaggs Sheryl
Published: January 2010

Prior work on equal employment opportunity tends to focus on a limited set of factors that influence change in organizational structures and policies. This article considers a broader set of potentially influential legal and political coercive pressures—namely, discrimination lawsuits, federal court dynamics, and state political ideology—and analyzes their implications for concrete changes in organizational behavior. Using national establishment-level data on the supermarket industry from 1983 to 1998, I estimate African American managerial representation using a series of auto-distributed lag (ADL) models with fixed-effects. The results show that in the year following a lawsuit filing against a particular supermarket establishment, African Americans are more likely to enter management. Furthermore, over the long run, coercive isomorphism (whereby establishments subject to a lawsuit come to adopt industry averages for African American managerial representation) seems to prevail. Finally, legal pressures associated with federal court judges' gender and racial/ethnic diversity and state-level government ideology are also influential. I conclude by discussing these results and the importance of systematically incorporating political process into sociological theorizing and analyses of workplace diversity.
The Global Dimensions of Rape-Law Reform: A Cross-National Study of Policy Outcomes
Authors: Frank David John , Hardinge Tara , Wosick-Correa Kassia
Published: January 2010

Most studies of rape-law reform outcomes focus on single cases. We advance this literature by studying outcomes more systematically—leveraging new cross-national and longitudinal reform data—and showing that reform outcomes have both global and national determinants. Our exploratory analyses show three main findings: (1) Rape-law reforms are strongly associated with elevated police reporting between 1945 and 2005. (2) The strength of the association depends on domestic contexts. The association is stronger in countries characterized by individualism, women's mobilization, wealth, and education; it is weaker in countries with greater democracy and police strength. (3) The strength of the association also depends on global contexts. It is stronger in countries with dense linkages to world society and weaker under conditions of global institutionalization, as widespread diffusion gives rise to both ceremony without substance (i.e., domestic rape-law reforms without subsequent increases in reporting) and substance without ceremony (increased police reporting without antecedent reforms). In multivariate regression analyses, rape-law reforms, women's mobilization, and links to world society all have positive and significant effects on police reporting. It appears that both global and domestic contexts—together and independently—importantly shape policy and practice.
A Pragmatist Theory of Social Mechanisms
Authors: Gross Neil
Published: January 2010

Some sociologists have recently argued that a major aim of sociological inquiry is to identify the mechanisms by which cause and effect relationships in the social world come about. This article argues that existing accounts of social mechanisms are problematic because they rest on either inadequately developed or questionable understandings of social action. Building on an insight increasingly common among sociological theorists—that action should be conceptualized in terms of social practices—I mobilize ideas from the tradition of classical American pragmatism to develop a more adequate theory of mechanisms. I identify three kinds of analytical problems the theory is especially well poised to address and then lay out an agenda for future research.
Model Uncertainty in Sociological Research: An Application to Religion and Economic Growth
Authors: Young Cristobal
Published: January 2010

Model uncertainty is pervasive in quantitative research. Classical statistical theory assumes that only one (true) model is applied to a sample of data. In practice, however, researchers do not know which exact model specification is best. Modern computing power allows researchers to estimate a huge number of plausible models, yet only a few of these estimates are published. The result is a severe asymmetry of information between analyst and reader. The applied modeling process produces a much wider range of estimates than is suggested by the usual standard errors or confidence intervals. I demonstrate this using the work of Barro and McCleary on religion and economic growth. Small, sensible changes in their model specification produce large changes in the results: the results are inconsistent across time, and the instrumental variables strategy suffers from a weak instrument set. Also, the observed relationship between religiosity and economic growth does not hold in the West; it is largely a feature of Asian and African countries and of countries whose data is poor quality. In short, empirical findings should be evaluated not just by their significance but also by their robustness to model specification. I conclude with suggestions for incorporating model uncertainty into practice and improving the transparency of social science research.
Family and Religious Characteristics' Influence on Delinquency Trajectories from Adolescence to Young Adulthood
Authors: Petts Richard J.
Published: January 2010

This study takes a life-course approach to examine whether family and religious characteristics influence individual-level delinquency trajectories from early adolescence through young adulthood. Based on data from the NLSY79, results suggest that residing with two parents deters youths from becoming delinquent and that supportive parenting practices reduce their likelihood of becoming involved in delinquent behavior early in adolescence. There is also evidence that family and religion interact to predict delinquency trajectories. Religion enhances the effect of parental affection in deterring delinquent behavior and mitigates the increased risk of high levels of delinquent behavior among youths in single-parent families. Moreover, the findings indicate that delinquency trajectories are not immutable; family transitions are associated with increases in delinquency, but religious participation throughout adolescence and marriage are associated with declines in delinquent behavior. Overall, results suggest that family and religious characteristics continually influence the extent to which youths commit delinquent acts.
A Natural Experiment on Residential Change and Recidivism: Lessons from Hurricane Katrina
Authors: Kirk David S.
Published: January 2010

Ex-prisoners tend to be geographically concentrated in a relatively small number of neighborhoods within the most resource deprived sections of metropolitan areas. Furthermore, many prisoners return “home” to the same criminogenic environment with the same criminal opportunities and criminal peers that proved so detrimental prior to incarceration. Yet estimating the causal impact of place of residence on the likelihood of recidivism is complicated by the issue of selection bias. In this study, I use a natural experiment as a means of addressing the selection issue and examine whether the migration of ex-prisoners away from their former place of residence will lead to lower levels of recidivism. In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Louisiana Gulf Coast, damaging many of the neighborhoods where ex-prisoners typically reside. The residential destruction resulting from Hurricane Katrina is an exogenous source of variation that influences where a parolee will reside upon release from prison. Findings reveal that moving away from former geographic areas substantially lowers a parolee's likelihood of re-incarceration.
Bringing Intergenerational Social Mobility Research into the Twenty-first Century: Why Mothers Matter
Authors: Beller Emily
Published: January 2010

Conventional social mobility research, which measures family social class background relative to only fathers' characteristics, presents an outmoded picture of families—a picture wherein mothers' economic participation is neither common nor important. This article demonstrates that such measurement is theoretically and empirically untenable. Models that incorporate both mothers' and fathers' characteristics into class origin measures fit observed mobility patterns better than do conventional models, and for both men and women. Furthermore, in contrast to the current consensus that conventional measurement strategies do not alter substantive research conclusions, analyses of cohort change in social mobility illustrate the distortions that conventional practice can produce in stratification research findings. By failing to measure the impact of mothers' class, the current practice misses a recent upturn in the importance of family background for class outcomes among men in the United States. The conventional approach suggests no change between cohorts, but updated analyses reveal that inequality of opportunity increased significantly for men born since the mid-1960s compared with those born earlier in the century.
The Sources and Consequences of National Identification
Authors: Kunovich Robert M.
Published: January 2010

This article examines national identification from a comparative and multilevel perspective. Building on the identity, nationalism, and prejudice literatures, I analyze relationships between societies' economic, political, and cultural characteristics (e.g., development, globalization, democratic governance, militarism, and religious and linguistic diversity), individual characteristics (e.g., socioeconomic status and minority status), and preferences for the content of national identities. I also examine relationships between national identity content and public policy preferences toward immigration, citizenship, assimilation, and foreign policy, generally. I use confirmatory factor analysis and multilevel modeling to analyze country-level data and survey data from 31 countries (from the International Social Survey Program's 2003 National Identity II Module). Results suggest that individual and country characteristics help account for the variable and contested nature of national identification. Moreover, the content of national identity categories has implications for public policy and intergroup relations.
All the Movements Fit to Print: Who, What, When, Where, and Why SMO Families Appeared in the New York Times in the Twentieth Century
Authors: Amenta Edwin , Caren Neal , Olasky Sheera Joy , Stobaugh James E.
Published: January 2010

Why did some social movement organization (SMO) families receive extensive media coverage? In this article, we elaborate and appraise four core arguments in the literature on movements and their consequences: disruption, resource mobilization, political partisanship, and whether a movement benefits from an enforced policy. Our fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analyses (fsQCA) draw on new, unique data from the New York Times across the twentieth century on more than 1,200 SMOs and 34 SMO families. At the SMO family level, coverage correlates highly with common measures of the size and disruptive activity of movements, with the labor and African American civil rights movements receiving the most coverage. Addressing why some movement families experienced daily coverage, fsQCA indicates that disruption, resource mobilization, and an enforced policy are jointly sufficient; partisanship, the standard form of “political opportunity,” is not part of the solution. Our results support the main perspectives, while also suggesting that movement scholars may need to reexamine their ideas of favorable political contexts.
The 2004 GSS Finding of Shrunken Social Networks: An Artifact?
Authors: Fischer Claude S.
Published: January 2010

McPherson, Smith-Lovin, and Brashears (2006, 2008b) reported that Americans' social networks shrank precipitously from 1985 to 2004. When asked to list the people with whom they discussed “important matters,” respondents to the 2004 General Social Survey (GSS) provided about one-third fewer names than did respondents in the 1985 survey. Critically, the percentage of respondents who provided no names at all increased from about 10 percent in 1985 to about 25 percent in 2004. The 2004 results contradict other relevant data, however, and they contain serious anomalies; this suggests that the apparently dramatic increase in social isolation is an artifact. One possible source of the artifact is the section of the 2004 interview preceding the network question; it may have been unusually taxing. Another possible source is a random technical error. With as yet no clear account for these inconsistencies and anomalies, scholars should be cautious in using the 2004 network data. Scholars and general readers alike should draw no inference from the 2004 GSS as to whether Americans' social networks changed substantially between 1985 and 2004; they probably did not.
Correlates of wife abuse in the Maseno and Nairobi areas of Kenya
Authors: Jaoko Japheth
Published: January 2010

This study measured the prevalence of wife abuse among a group of women in the Maseno and Nairobi areas of Kenya. Of the 208 women participants, 49.5% reported having experienced abuse.The best predictors of abuse were a history of violence in the husband’s family of origin and substance abuse by the husband.
Ukrainian adoptive families
Authors: Groza Victor , Komarova Nadiya , Galchinskaya Lesya , Gerasimova Alyona , Volynets Lyudmyla
Published: January 2010

This is the first study of successful adoptive families in Ukraine; 365 adoptive families were surveyed about their experiences. This article describes child and family demographics as well as provides a discussion of the various issues encountered during the adoption process. Implications for policy, practice and future research are outlined.
The social impact of work-integration social enterprise in Hong Kong
Authors: Ho Amy Po-ying , Chan Kam-tong
Published: January 2010

Work-integration social enterprises (WISEs), established mainly by non-government welfare agencies and managed by social workers, provide disadvantaged groups with an opportunity for employment and training in businesses. The participants benefit in terms of income, and also through expanded social networks and improved psycho-social well-being. WISEs thus contribute to poverty alleviation and social capital building.
Understanding the carers’ experience: Examples from a Ghanaian context
Authors: Quinn Neil , Evans Tony
Published: January 2010

Informal carers play a key role in mental health care.This article draws on the work of Goffman to analyse the experiences of carers in Ghana. The findings illustrate the complex nature of caring and the need to develop social work practice that acknowledges the social context of carers’ reality.
Indigenization in a globalizing world: A response to Yunong and Xiong (2008)
Authors: Gray Mel
Published: January 2010

In a recent article published in International Social Work, two writers from Mainland China — Huang Yunong and Zhang Xiong — presented an insightful analysis into indigenization in social work. This article responds to some of the issues and challenges they raise and, in so doing, outlines some diverse views on indigenization in contemporary social work literature.
Consequences of Workplace Bullying on Employee Identification and Satisfaction Among Australians and Singaporeans
Authors: Loh Jennifer , Restubog Simon Lloyd D. , Zagenczyk Thomas J.
Published: January 2010

This study responds to the call for cross-cultural investigations of workplace bullying by examining the relationship between workplace bullying and attitudes among employees from two countries. The authors argue that employees from societies that are less inclined to accept that power differences exist as a result of structure (low power distance countries, e.g., Australia) will respond to workplace bullying more negatively than will employees from cultures that accept that power differences exist as a result of structure (high power distance, e.g., Singapore). In all, 165 Singaporean and 152 Australian employees completed surveys designed to assess workplace bullying, workgroup identification, and job satisfaction. Results showed that workplace bullying was negatively related to both workgroup identification and job satisfaction among employees from both countries. Moreover, national culture influenced the relationship between bullying and job satisfaction and workgroup identification such that the negative relationships between bullying and these attitudinal outcomes were stronger for Australians than Singaporeans.
Chronic Stressors and Daily Hassles: Unique and Interactive Relationships with Psychological Distress
Authors: Serido Joyce , Almeida David M. , Wethington Elaine
Published: January 2010

Using daily telephone interviews of a U.S. national sample of adults, aged 25–74 (N = 1,031), the present analyses draw from theories of the stress process and recent research to examine how chronic role-related stressors and daily hassles affect psychological distress. Four separate hypotheses are examined. The first explores the association between chronic stressors and daily hassles. The second tests whether daily hassles function as an intervening variable between chronic stressors and psychological distress. The third tests whether a chronic stressor moderates the relationship between daily hassles and psychological distress. The fourth hypothesis tests for cross-domain effects of chronic stressors and daily hassles. Findings indicate that chronic stressors and daily hassles are distinct types of stressors with unique contributions to psychological distress. The study provides support for chronic home stressors functioning as a moderating factor on the relationship between daily hassles and psychological distress both within and across domains.
Personal Resources and Depression in the Transition to Adulthood: Ethnic Comparisons
Authors: Turner R. Jay , Taylor John , Van Gundy Karen
Published: January 2010

Based on a representative sample of 1,803 South Florida young adults, we examine the extent to which personal attributes mediate or moderate the ethnicity-depression relationship and condition the effects of social stress on depression. Our sample contains nearly equal proportions of African American, Cuban American, “other” Hispanic, and non-Hispanic white respondents. Findings suggest that there are ethnic variations in four of the five personal resources considered. Additionally, when accounting for ethnic differences in response tendencies and in the confounding of personal resources with depression, there is strong evidence for both direct and stress-buffering effects of personal resources. Although naïve comparisons of within group findings imply a number of ethnic variations in those effects, few statistically significant differences are observed. It is suggested that ethnic similarities outweigh differences, at least with respect to the mental health significance of the personal resources considered. Overall, the results highlight some of the complexities inherent in making multi-ethnic comparisons.
Marital Status, Marital Transitions, and Health: A Gendered Life Course Perspective
Authors: Williams Kristi , Umberson Debra
Published: January 2010

We work from a life course perspective to assess the impact of marital status and marital transitions on subsequent changes in the self-assessed physical health of men and women. Our results suggest three central conclusions regarding the association of marital status and marital transitions with self-assessed health. First, marital status differences in health appear to reflect the strains of marital dissolution more than they reflect any benefits of marriage. Second, the strains of marital dissolution undermine the self-assessed health of men but not women. Finally, life course stage is as important as gender in moderating the effects of marital status and marital transitions on health.
“There Just Aren't Enough Hours in the Day’: The Mental Health Consequences of Time Pressure
Authors: Roxburgh Susan
Published: January 2010

In this paper I examine the association between subjective time pressure and depression and consider whether time pressure mediates the relationship between roles and depression, whether social and economic resources moderate the association between time pressure and depression, and whether time pressure explains gender differences in depression. Results of a telephone survey of 790 respondents indicate that time pressure is significantly associated with distress for men and women, and that subjective time pressure accounts for the significantly higher depression of employed women. Time pressure mediates the impact of housework and the volunteer role among women and it partially explains the differential depression of divorced men. Several resources moderate the impact of time pressure on depression: income among both men and women and perceived co-worker social support among men. Results suggest that the subjective experience of time pressure can be thought of as a potentially important mechanism by which lived experience is transformed into depression. However, in spite of the ubiquity of time pressure in the North American context, the depressing consequences of this subjective experience are not distributed equitably, suggesting that the capacity to manage time pressure and avoid depression may be another benefit associated with strategically advantageous social locations.
Role Sequencing: Does Order Matter for Mental Health?
Authors: Jackson Pamela Braboy
Published: January 2010

Role sequencing refers to the ordering of social roles. According to the normative order hypothesis, adults who follow a certain sequencing of their social roles will be better adjusted than their peers who follow other life course patterns. The normative order is defined as first entering the paid labor force, getting married, and later having children. This study tests this hypothesis by analyzing retrospective life history data from three subsamples of adults who completed the 1987–1988 National Survey of Families and Households: (1) married, working parents; (2) divorced, working parents; and (3) married, unemployed parents. The findings indicate significant race/ethnic (black/white), gender, and cohort differences in the type of role sequencing patterns that are conducive to positive mental health. For example, African Americans who work first, then have children, and later get married report better mental health than their peers who followed the normative order. White men and women seem to benefit from following the normative course of role transitions. Among women, however, the psychological benefits of following typical life course patterns are especially evident among those born during the baby boom.
The Relationship between Lead and Crime
Authors: Stretesky Paul B. , Lynch Michael J.
Published: January 2010

This study investigates the association between air-lead levels and crime rates across 2,772 U.S. counties. Data for the analysis come from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of Census, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Results suggest that air-lead levels have a direct effect on property and violent crime rates even after adjusting for general levels of air pollution and several structural covariates of crime. We also find that resource deprivation interacts with air-lead levels. The association between air-lead levels and crime rates—property and violent—is strongest in counties that have high levels of resource deprivation and weakest in counties that have low levels of deprivation. This interaction is consistent with arguments and evidence in the health care literature that populations most at risk of lead poisoning are least likely to get the resources required to prevent, screen, and treat the illness.
“Fundamental Causes” of Social Inequalities in Mortality: A Test of the Theory
Authors: Phelan Jo C. , Link Bruce G. , Diez-Roux Ana , Kawachi Ichiro , Levin Bruce
Published: January 2010

Medicine and epidemiology currently dominate the study of the strong association between socioeconomic status and mortality. Socioeconomic status typically is viewed as a causally irrelevant “confounding variable” or as a less critical variable marking only the beginning of a causal chain in which intervening risk factors are given prominence. Yet the association between socioeconomic status and mortality has persisted despite radical changes in the diseases and risk factors that are presumed to explain it. This suggests that the effect of socioeconomic status on mortality essentially cannot be understood by reductive explanations that focus on current mechanisms. Accordingly, Link and Phelan (1995) proposed that socioeconomic status is a “fundamental cause” of mortality disparities—that socioeconomic disparities endure despite changing mechanisms because socioeconomic status embodies an array of resources, such as money, knowledge, prestige, power, and beneficial social connections, that protect health no matter what mechanisms are relevant at any given time. We identified a situation in which resources should be less helpful in prolonging life, and derived the following prediction from the theory: For less preventable causes of death (for which we know little about prevention or treatment), socioeconomic status will be less strongly associated with mortality than for more preventable causes. We tested this hypothesis with the National Longitudinal Mortality Study, which followed Current Population Survey respondents (N = 370,930) for mortality for nine years. Our hypothesis was supported, lending support to the theory of fundamental causes and more generally to the importance of a sociological approach to the study of socio-economic disparities in mortality.
Status Differences in Cross-Functional Teams: Effects on Individual Member Participation, Job Satisfaction, and Intent to Quit
Authors: Lichtenstein Richard , Alexander Jeffrey A. , Mccarthy John F. , Wells Rebecca
Published: January 2010

Cross-functional teams (CFTs) play an increasingly important role in health care. However, despite their potential, CFTs often fail to function effectively. This paper contributes to the literature in medical sociology by examining how the steep and well-defined hierarchy characteristic of the health occupations proves to be dysfunctional in the CFT setting. Previous research has shown that status differences among members of work teams negatively affect their functioning. Yet the specific mechanisms that connect variations in status to poor team functioning remain unclear. We hypothesize that it is the suppression of participation among low status team members that leads to poor CFT functioning. Our theoretical model integrates status characteristics theory and the value attainment theory of job satisfaction to link team members' statuses to participation in team decision-making and, ultimately, to their attitudes about the job. We use causal modeling to test our hypotheses. Our results indicate that relationships between health professionals defined in broader social contexts affect status, roles, and functions within CFTs, and these, in turn, affect the team's interpersonal processes. We suggest changes in organizational structure and in team leadership styles that might make CFTs more effective.
School and County Characteristics as Predictors of School Rates of Drug, Alcohol, and Tobacco Offenses
Authors: Eitle David J. , Eitle Tamela Mcnulty
Published: January 2010

Despite evidence that school factors are associated with differences in various types of student behavior, little research has explored the predictive utility of school factors for school-level substance offense rates. Using data from the State of Florida Department of Education and the Census, we explore the associations between school climate and school substance offense rates, controlling for county level characteristics. Results from a multilevel analysis show that school culture, school organization, and social milieu predict variation in school substance incident rate. We interpret the findings as consistent with research utilizing the “school culture/school effectiveness” model.
When Caregiving Ends: The Course of Depressive Symptoms After Bereavement
Authors: Aneshensel Carol S. , Botticello Amanda L. , Yamamoto-Mitani Noriko
Published: January 2010

This study describes depressive symptoms among caregivers following bereavement and connects these trajectories to earlier features of caregiving using life course and stress process theory. Data are from a six-wave longitudinal survey (five years) of spouses and adult children caring for someone with Alzheimer's Disease. The analytic subsample (N = 291) is defined by death of the care-recipient after the baseline interview. A latent class mixture model is used to identify distinctive clusters of depressive symptoms over time. Of the four trajectories identified, three represent stable symptom levels over time, with two-thirds being repeatedly symptomatic (medium symptom levels), compared to two smaller groups of repeatedly asymptomatic (effectively absent of symptoms) and repeatedly distressed (severe symptoms). In contrast, about one in five caregivers experiences improved emotional well-being over time, the temporarily distressed, who progress from severe to moderate symptom levels. Caregivers with few symptoms before bereavement tend to maintain these states afterwards, but emotionally distressed caregivers tend to become more distressed. Role overload before bereavement substantially increases the odds of following an unfavorable trajectory afterwards, whereas self-esteem and socioemotional support play protective roles. These results demonstrate that caregivers are not uniform in their emotional responses to bereavement, but follow several distinct trajectories. These trajectories are linked to their previous experiences as caregivers, in particular exposure to stressors and access to resources. These findings suggest that intervention during caregiving may facilitate adaptation following death of a loved one.
Disability Identity and Attitudes Toward Cure in a Sample of Disabled Activists
Authors: Hahn Harlan D. , Belt Todd L.
Published: January 2010

This study investigates the assumption that disabled people want improvements in their functional abilities, or complete cures. Contrary to this assumption, many disabled activists are found to have attitudes in which they refuse treatment that promises a cure. In order to explain this attitude, different sources of disability identity are isolated as potential predictor variables. A multivariate model reveals that self-identity related to a personal affirmation of disability is a significant predictor of refusal of treatment, as is the age of onset of disability. Implications for interactions with medical professionals and utility-based modeling of medical treatment seeking are discussed.
The Shifting Engines of Medicalization
Authors: Conrad Peter
Published: January 2010

Social scientists and other analysts have written about medicalization since at least the 1970s. Most of these studies depict the medical profession, interprofessional or organizational contests, or social movements and interest groups as the prime movers toward medicalization. This article contends that changes in medicine in the past two decades are altering the medicalization process. Using several case examples, I argue that three major changes in medical knowledge and organization have engendered an important shift in the engines that drive medicalization: biotechnology (especially the pharmaceutical industry and genetics), consumers, and managed care. Doctors are still gatekeepers for medical treatment, but their role has become more subordinate in the expansion or contraction of medicalization. Medicalization is now more driven by commercial and market interests than by professional claims-makers. The definitional center of medicalization remains constant, but the availability of new pharmaceutical and potential genetic treatments are increasingly drivers for new medical categories. This requires a shift in the sociological focus examining medicalization for the twenty-first century.
Age at First Birth, Health, and Mortality
Authors: Mirowsky John
Published: January 2010

The biodevelopmental view sees the readiness and soundness of the organism at the time of first birth as its prime link to health and survival years and decades later. It suggests an optimum age at first birth shortly after puberty. The biosocial view emphasizes social correlates and consequences of age at first birth that may influence health and survival many years later. It suggests that better health and survival come from delaying motherhood as long as possible, perhaps indefinitely. Analyses consistently find patterns more in keeping with the biosocial view in a U.S. national sample of women ages 25 through 95. The fitted curves show high levels of current health problems among women who first gave birth in or shortly after puberty. Problems drop steadily the longer that first birth was delayed, up to about age 34, then rise increasingly steeply, particularly after about age 40. For women currently of the same age, the ratio of health problems expected given first birth under age 18 versus around age 34 equals that from currently being 14 years older. Health problems rise steeply with length of having delayed beyond age 40. Mortality hazard also declines with having delayed first birth well beyond the end of puberty. The ratio of mortality hazard between mothers with teenage versus late first births equals that from a 10-year difference in current age. Comparison to nonmothers of similar age and race/ethnicity shows that the correlation of motherhood with health problems and mortality hazard switches from detrimental to beneficial with delay beyond about age 22.