BYU ScholarsArchive

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  Poverty Attributions and Attitudes toward Government Spending

  Laurel George, Leila N. Kempf, and Kristie Phillips

  The U.S. has the greatest economic inequality of any industrialized nation, and does the least to reduce this inequality (Dreier 2007). This inequality may reflect attitudes about the causes of poverty that may diminish willingness to support policy designed to alleviate its effects. Prior research has examined differences in attitudes toward the poor and those receiving welfare and about poverty beliefs, but not whether a relationship exist between these beliefs and opinions on Political Science. In order to investigate this explanation, we analyze data from the 1992 American National Election Survey (N=674) for a possible link between whether people attribute poverty to laziness or to structural causes and their attitudes about increasing government spending on programs that target the problems of poverty, namely food stamps, welfare, and child care. We found significant relationships between poverty beliefs and favorable attitudes toward increasing spending on each of these programs.

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  Kin Care and Perceptions of Equity among Ugandan Youth

  Laurel George and Jini Roby

  Children receiving kin care in Sub-Saharan Africa are at risk for differential treatment, especially where household resources are scarce. Using Pearson χ2 and multinomial logistic regression, we investigated whether such disparity exists within households receiving agency oversight and services designed to protect such children and preserve family households. We use existing data from face-to-face interviews with Ugandan youth age 8 to 18 (N = 518) and their caregivers to examine whether differences exist in child-perceived equity of food distribution and work requirements by type of family relatedness to caregiver. Income, but not relatedness, was negatively associated with food inequity, but relatedness was associated with perceived disparity in distribution of work among household children.

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  Who Wants to Be in America? A Generalized Linear Mixed Model to Predict Satisfaction with Life in the United States among the Children of Immigrants

  Brian D. Harris and Joe Olsen

  Stratification theory and various theories of immigrant integration suggest that it may be more important to measure integration outcomes among the children of immigrant than first-generation immigrants themselves. While many researchers use outcomes that can be measured directly such as income or educational attainment, more research is needed on the subjective interpretations of the children of immigrants. I use a multilevel generalized linear mixed model to predict satisfaction with the United States among the children of immigrants. Data come from the first two waves of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS). Parents' citizenship status, students' citizenship status, previous experiences with discrimination, the students' grade in school, and attitudes about Americans' sense of superiority are all significant predictors of satisfaction with living in the United States.

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  Using Media to Connect in Romantic Relationships: Effects on Attachment, Relationship Satisfaction and Stability

  Lori C. Schade, Jonathan Sandberg, and Roy Bean

  This study was designed to explore in a path analysis how non-vocal and non-facial forms of media communication in emerging adults' romantic relationships might influence attachment, relationship satisfaction and relationship stability. For both males and females, using these forms of media to connect in their relationships seemed to be positively associated with attachment. Attachment was positively correlated with both relationship satisfaction and stability for both groups. Using media to communicate in a hurtful way was negatively related to satisfaction and stability. Differences between groups are presented and implications discussed.

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  Predictors of Caregiver Burden of Parents of Children with Disabilities

  Richard Alboroto and Susanne O. Roper

  Parents of children with disabilities experience elevated stress, which may contribute to their caregiver burden. Factors related to caregiver burden may be child or parent related. In this study, we investigated how income, economic hardship, age of the child with a disability, number of children in the family, and family cohesion were associated with mothers’ and fathers’ caregiver burden. Participants consisted of parents of 192 children; 155 of the children had some form of disability. The results show that family cohesion was negatively related to mothers’ and fathers’ burden. Economic hardship was also strongly associated with burden. Results suggest that it is important to examine parent related factors in examining parental burden. It is also important to examine parental burden in when looking at different family intervention options that may be used to reduce parental stress.

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  Effects of Relationship Status on GPA

  Emily Albright, Chanel Carlile, Janae Kirkendall, and Allyson Webber

  Research on the effect of Relationship Status on GPA is very limited. Some studies find that individuals who date more frequently tend to have lower grades than those who don’t. Other studies have found that relationships can have a positive or a negative effect on GPA depending on other factors. However, most studies find that Relationship status doesn’t have an effect on GPA. We hypothesize that Single and Married individuals will have higher GPA’s than their dating counterparts. We further hypothesize that Single and Married people will also be more consistent in their academic achievement and that those who are happy will have higher GPA’s.

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  Effects of Title I on Student Achievement

  Erin Alldredge and Bert Burraston

  This study analyzes the effects of attending a Title I funded school on student achievement by examining fall and spring test scores of kindergarten students, and achievement gains between the two evaluations. The study presents two hypotheses: students attending Title I funded schools will have lower math test scores for both fall and spring tests than students attending schools that do not receive Title I funds, and students attending Title I funded schools will have higher achievement gains between fall and spring than children attending schools that do not receive Title I funds. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study 1998-99(ECLSK) it was determined that students who attended Title I Funded schools received lower test scores than their peers at schools that did not receive these funds. Also, no significant difference in achievement gains was found between the two groups.

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  A Comparative Study of the Murray/Taylorsville and Salt Lake City Greenway Systems

  Nicholas G. Baker, Evan Pressley, David Munson, and Mark Christensen

  Greenways are an important part of an urban system. They are linear strips of vegetated area that extend through or around cities. Greenways have various environ-mental, social, and economic benefits that contribute to healthy communities. Characteristics of greenway systems can be quantified and measured, allowing comparison between study areas. Our study uses landscape metrics to compare the total area, total edge, number of patches, and connectivity of the Salt Lake City and Murray, Utah greenway systems.

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  Ladders to the Sky: Implications of 'Mental Retardation' in Vishakhapatnam, India

  Amber K. Bell and Charles Nuckolls

  Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have never been studied from an ethnographic basis in anthropology. The study originally focused on only families with autistic members. Due to Indian definitions of mental illness, the study was broadened from the cultural view of ASDs to studying the 'mentally retarded' and focused on autistics within that definition. I wanted to study: the cultural definitions of mental illness, what treatments were being used, and how these definitions affected families that included patients.

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  Religion's Influence on Adolescent's Self-Esteem

  Diane M. Bowns, Benjamin R. Malczyk, Rachel Dodge, and Randal Day

  Self-esteem, or mattering, is important as it has been found to be positively related to things like perceived social support and school performance for adolescents (Elliott, Kao & Grant 2004). We wonder if an adolescent’s self-esteem is specifically affected by his religiosity. Plante and Boccaccini (1997) used the SCSORF Questionnaire and found that stronger faith promoted lighter interpersonal sensitivity, greater belief in personal control and higher self-esteem. Likewise, Ellison (1991) asserts that those with strong religiosity report higher self-esteem; yet Bahr and Martin (1983) report that there was little relationship between religiosity and self-esteem. In our study we test to see if self-esteem is one area in which religion manifests itself positively in the lives of adolescents. We hypothesize that religion will be positively correlated with self-esteem.

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  International Travel: Economic Effects of Government Intervention

  Adam Brady, Whitney Thomas, Jenna Wilkin, and Patty Eliason

  Because tourism affects many aspects of a countries economy, governments play an important role in promoting and preparing their countries for tourism. Using Haiti and China, as well as the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the epidemic outbreaks of SARS and the Swine Flu, we can see the role each government takes in regards to tourism and the economy of each country. In Haiti, we see the role America plays in rebuilding the country, both physically, after the earthquake in January 2010, and politically, by offering support to the Haitian government and stopping military coups. Tourism would bring money to Haiti and help strengthen the country. The People’s Republic of China had a history of only allowing select visitors into the country until the late 1970’s, when Chinese officials realized the economic benefits of tourism. The government then poured money into building new hotels, renovating historical sites, and training tour guides. Then, in 2001, China won the bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics and spent billions of dollars preparing for the huge influx of visitors, hoping to change the world’s view of The People’s Republic of China. After the terrorist attacks on American on Sept 11, 2001, world travel drastically decreased. Since then international travel has increased worldwide, but has actually decreased to the United States. The U.S. government, knowing the economic advantages of tourism, passed the Travel Promotion Act in March 2010, hoping to promote international travel to the United States. The outbreak of SARS and the Swine Flu created tension between government policies. As governments attempt to limit the spread of disease by issuing warnings and, in some cases, forbidding travel, while at the same time trying to limit the negative economic effects of restricting travel. By January2004, less than a year after governments implemented travel restrictions due to SARS, they gave tourist officials the push to promote international travel once more. International travel is an important part of the world economy and each country takes steps to reduce their negative image in order to promote travel to their country.

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  Violence in Children's Popular Television Programs

  Victoria Bramwell, Ashley Herr, Christine Sickles, and Jessica Kugath

  Previous research done on violence in the media has primarily focused on the effects it has on children. Researchers have tried to prove that children’s viewing of television violence is linked to negative side effects such as encouraging children to imitate their violent acts in social settings (Simmons, Stalsworth and Wentzel, 1999), it’s effects can lead to psychological trauma (Singer, et al., 2004), and even that it can have an impact on a child’s moral reasoning (Krcmar, Viera, 2005). However, little research has been done on how much violence is portrayed in popular television shows and if it increases with a show’s targeted age group. In our study we explore this issue and hypothesize that as a target age for a show increases the amount of violent acts will increase up until shows are directed at a pre-teen audience where the amount of violent acts will begin to decrease.

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  Does Gender and Marital Status Affect Student Anxiety in School?

  Christian Briggs, Zachary Elison, Monica Gonzalez, and Scott C. Steffensen

  School related anxiety and stress is a common psychiatric issue for college students. In recent years, heart rate variability (HRV) has been utilized as a noninvasive and informative way to evaluate autonomic activity by recording electrocardiogram or pulse waves.In past studies, decreased autonomic responsiveness in correlation with task performance has served as a sign of psychological dysfunction (Shinba, 2008). Gender studies have indicated that women are substantially more likely to develop stress disorders and exhibit higher levels of anxiety in clinical testing (McLean, 2009; MacSwain, 2009). Despite these various studies in gender, little research has been done to indicate differences in gender and marital status and school anxiety. We hypothesize that single women will experience the most dramatic decrease in HRV potentially indicative of higher levels of school anxiety.

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  Greenway Systems in Salt Lake City and Tallahassee A Comparitive Analysis

  Derek Bruton, Lydia Michela, Tyler Terry, and Morgan Osborne

  Landscape ecology is the study of the relationship between spatial pattern and ecological processes on a range of landscape scales. One aspect of land¬scape ecology that we chose to study was green¬ways. Greenways are long, narrow corridors that differ from the surrounding landscape types; they are used for recreation, and for pedestrian and bi¬cycle traffic. We compared the greenways in Salt Lake City and Tallahassee (Figures 3 and 4), using landscape metrics (methods of quantifying land¬scape pattern) as tools to define characteristics of the greenway systems. To determine which city had a stronger greenway system, we based our conclusions on three comparative metrics: percent green space, connectivity, and contagion. We ex¬pected the Tallahassee greenway to be superior to that of Salt Lake City’s because of its warm, hu¬mid climate and the city’s well-established plan for greenway expansion.

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  Modeling Large-Scale Historical Migration Patterns Using Family History Records

  Brian Bunker, Elias Wise, Eric Severson, and Sam Otterstrom

  Location has a powerful effect, and humans seek to understand not only where they are, but where they have come from. Thus, genealogy and migration are both important human concepts, and one can help to illuminate the other. Historical migration studies use records of all types to attempt to model and explain the movement of individuals and families. Our purpose is to use the new Family Search database compiled by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members to create a flexible search engine which will enable visualization and analysis of migration by community or by place of orig, and which will explore the dynamics of multigenerational migration.

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  Predictors and Outcomes of Work-Family Conflict: A U.S. and Singapore Cross-Cultural Comparison

  Lydia A. Buswell, Adam M. Galovan, Tamara A. Fackrell, and Blake L. Jones

  This paper examines the predictors and outcomes of work-family conflict in a cross-cultural comparison between nationally-representative samples from the United States (N = 1870) and Singapore (N = 1035). As expected, schedule flexibility was positively related to mental health in the United States, but in Singapore the relationship was negative. Likewise, work-to-family conflict was negatively related to marital satisfaction in the United States, however, it was positively related to marital satisfaction in Singapore. Similarly, family-to-work conflict was positively related to job satisfaction in United States, but was negatively related in Singapore. The findings suggest that theoretical relationships in the work-family interface developed in the individualistic West may need to be adapted when studying populations in the collectivist East.

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  Theoretical Treasure Untapped: Sociology’s Neglect of Friedrich Nietzsche

  Meghan Butcher and Howard Bahr

  Q1-How might Nietzsche’s work benefit sociology? Q2-To what extent is Nietzsche already represented in the sociological tradition? Q3-How have sociologists responded to Antonio’s (1995) plea that we consider him a founder? Q4-How does sociological usage compare with that of other disciplines? Q5-What are our options and opportunities?

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  Facebook and Self-worth

  Dallin Bywater, Chelsey Tautkus, Paul Moss, and Dana Kearnes

  It is already known that self-worth can be easily manipulated and diminished by disparagement. In response to this disparagement, one will then seek social gratification from their peers, which will work to bolster their damaged self-worth. One of the easiest ways for these disparaged people to seek social gratification is through Facebook use. However, it is not yet known if a decrease of self-worth leads to an increase in Facebook usage; if this relationship indeed exists, then we may be able to understand more about the link between self-worth and social networking. For example, it is possible that poor mental health causes people to more intensely use Facebook. Testing our theory adds to our understanding of how external validation of self-worth relates to Facebook usage. We have hypothesized that decreasing self-worth will cause intensity of Facebook usage to increase.

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  Parent-Adolescent Attachment as a Mediator of Relations between Parenting and Adolescent Social Behavior and Well-Being in China

  Mengfei Cai, Blake Hudson, Ashley Maag, and Sam Hardy

  The study of adolescents’ attachment to parents and its relation to adolescents' well-being has received increasing attention in recent years. But the mechanic in this relation and even in the whole working pattern is still not very clear---not only in western background, but also in eastern culture. This study examined how parenting dimensions (authoritative, psychological control, and over-protecting) relate to adolescent outcomes (self-esteem, autonomy, and peer relationships) by way of parent-teen attachment, among Chinese families.

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  Hanging Out Among Latter-day Saint Young Adults: A Qualitative Study

  Matthew Call, Michael Richards, and Tom B. Holman

  Latter-day Saint (LDS) Church leaders have recently counseled LDS young adults to avoid substituting the practice of hanging out for dating (Oaks 2006, Wickman, 2010). In the face of this counsel, hanging out continues to be a common occurrence. The present study was conducted to better understand why hanging out occurs, how young adults conceptualize it, and what function it serves as a potential pathway to marriage. We believe that hanging out serves two different functions, distinguishable by the intentions of participants and time commitments involved. We have termed “purposive” hanging out as being used to locate and filter potential dating partners, and “non-committal” hanging out as being used to fill needs for companionship and recreation with mixed gender groups.

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  Income and Health Outcomes: Revisiting the Income-Health Gradient

  Craig H. Carter and Mark Showalter

  Much of the current debate surrounding health care is centered on the perception that the socio-economically disadvantaged are less healthy than their richer counterparts. This idea, known as the income-health gradient, has been studied heavily in the academic literature and this poster is an update of one such study conducted by Case et al. in 2002. In their study, the researchers found that those with lower incomes also have lower self-reported health scores, and that this relationship not only persists, but actually worsens, as people get older. Using updated data, I found that this problem is still very prevalent in our society today, and a dilemma that has serious policy implications. To conclude my research, I conduct a simple cost-benefit analysis aimed at identifying the most plausible remedies for the income-health gradient.

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  Temperamental behaviors measured during the first months of life are predictive of aggression in group housed rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)

  Andrew C. Chaffin, Christina S. Barr, and James D. Higley

  Temperament is thought to be the foundation for personality and subsequent behaviors later in life. To assess early temperamental variables that place individuals at risk for aggression later in life, this laboratory-based study examined infant behavior in group housed infant rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). The subjects were 52 mother-reared subjects. Behavior was assessed from the first through the eighth months of life using objective behavioral measures. Two 5-minute sessions were recorded for subjects each week over 8 months and the average rate of each of the 25 behaviors measured was the dependent measure. A test of the same subjects 2-4 years later measured the dependent variable, aggression, using the Fairbank’s Intruder Challenge Test, when subjects were 3-5 years of age. Results: Four behaviors exhibited a statistically significant ability to predict aggression. Statistically significant correlations were found for activity-oriented behaviors of environmental exploration, approach by infant, and leave by infant, as well as the social variable, socialize with individuals other than mother, with a modest positive r-value between .273 and .357. This activity-oriented trait may reflect hyperactive tendencies that have been shown in humans to increase the risk for aggression. This study suggests that objective measurements of activity levels in infant rhesus monkeys can be a predictive variable in determining later levels of aggression.

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  The Mental Health of Afghan Children Residing in Pakistani Refugee Camps

  Kelli Child and Jini Roby

  There have been several different events in Afghanistan's history that have forced its citizens to find refuge amongst its neighbors, the largest amount settling in Pakistan. As one of the largest groups of refugees currently, there are countless hardships that these individuals face. While struggling to find a place to meet their basic necessities, they meet untold hardships even within themselves--‐ coping with the stress, trauma and inevitable effects of being drenched in war--‐torn surroundings. There are political, economic, familial, cultural and individual contributing factors that inevitably have an effect upon their mental health. As with any population, the children are the hardest hit, and most often neglected. There are serious mental health problems found in the Afghan refugee children, most commonly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A child's mental health is highly dependent on the security of their surroundings and parents' well--‐being, which often-times itself is crumbling or absent. While there are many laudable efforts currently to help the refugees, endeavors to address the mental Health of their children has been few and far between. It is highly recommended to move forward by establishing a secure environment for the child by: recognizing the seriousness and widespread nature of mental illness, reducing the amount of exposure to violence, and moving forward by refortifying, reviving and rallying the family and feeling of community to once again provide the support and treatment that their children need.

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  Parental Influence in Adult Children’s Marital Relationships

  Hsin-Yao Chiu and Jenet Jacob

  Parents’ couple relationship quality is highly associated with their adult children’s relationship quality with their own partners (Amato & Booth, 2001; Amato & Cheadle, 2005). According to social learning theory, children discover from observing their parents’ interactions that certain behaviors are linked to certain outcomes. They are more willing to follow those behaviors and attitudes which will help them attain their own desired goals (Akers, La Greca, Cochran, & Sellers, 1989; Bandura, 1977; Sellers, Cochran, & Branch, 2005). Drawing on Social Learning theory, the current study uses relationship self-regulation as the measure (Wilson, Charker, Lizzio, Halford and Kimlin, 2005) to understand how specific behavioral efforts could effectively bring about positive outcomes in couple relationships. In addition to behavioral efforts, the current study also uses a measure of “familism” (Schwartz, 2007) to explore how parents’ attitudes towards marriage influence their adult children’s couple relationship quality. The following questions are addressed in the current study: (1) How are parents’ relationship self-regulation patterns associated with adult children’s self regulation and the value they place on the importance of marriage? (2) How do adult children’s relationship self-regulation and attitudes towards the importance of marriage influence their own relationship quality?

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  The Positive Effects of Video Gaming Within Families

  Maren K. Christiansen, Sarah Lewis, Jesse Croskrey, and Meredith Mehner

  Although in the past, research on video games has focused on the negative aspects, our study examines the positive influence of video games if used in the right context. Though co-playing, spending time together, and aiming for a common goal, family connectedness and other good outcomes could be expected to increase (Aarsand, 2007). In sum, our study seeks to find any potential for the enhancement of family relationships through the use of video games.