<p>Research into how different life events shape individual religiosity has a long history within sociology. However, some scholars have begun to question whether research in this area has methodologically justified making strong causal claims. In an effort to re-center religion within the field of sociological concerns, quantitative sociologists of religion have tended to over-state the meaning of their statistical relationships and this has led to many of their causal assumptions being unstated and/or untested in their analyses. The advances in causal statistical modeling and counterfactually grounded analyses has led to the development of statistical models that are better able to establish causal relationships. It is time to begin implementing these approaches within the sociology of religion. This more rigorous statistical approach runs the risk of demonstrating that social life’s influence on religion may be less impressive than was previously thought. But researchers in this area must take this risk to develop a better sense of the real effects of society on religion. This in turn will provide a better foundation for developing theories of religion’s role in our modern world. </p><p> One way in which sociologists of religion can improve their causal modeling strategies is through the use of longitudinal data and methods. In recent years there has been a significant increase in the availability of large-scale longitudinal data that collects information on respondents’ religious belief, practice, and belonging. With these data, scholars interested in religious change can move away from their reliance on comparing individuals to one another – a constraint of cross-sectional data – and begin to analyze how certain life course events may lead to change in individual religiosity. I revisit two important areas within the sociology of religion –the relationship between family formation and religious service attendance and the effects of educational achievement on religious beliefs and practices – to assess whether these relationships can be considered causal in light of results from longitudinal statistical models. By implementing longitudinal models, I am able to directly assess whether between-individual differences or individual change over time is driving the statistical relationships found in my analyses. I will show that the story we thought we knew about how religion responds to family formation and educational attainment changes when these additional statistical tests are brought to bear on the data.</p> / Dissertation

Predictors of long-term academic outcomes among Naskapi adolescents from Kawawachikamach, a reserve in Northern Quebec, were examined. Adolescents from this community as from other First Nations communities are statistically at risk for high school drop out and lower levels of educational attainment. However, efforts by communities during the past two decades to narrow the gap in educational attainment between First Nations students and the general population has resulted in significant gains for students who live on reserves. / In a series of three initial visits that spanned a year, adolescents from grades 6 through 11 completed a battery of measures used to assess a broad range of components of social competence. Intelligence and school grades were used as markers of the academic success; social perspective coordination and attachment to father, mother, and peers as indices of social adaptation; and identity with Native culture as an index of cultural identity. The follow-up indicators of academic success were based on school records of graduation from high school and of admission and entrance into post-secondary institutions. As expected within the academic domain, both intelligence and school grades contributed to long-term academic achievement. Within the social domain, social perspective coordination skills and attachment to father, but not attachment to mother or peers, promoted academic achievement. Within the cultural domain, lower identification with Native status was associated with school achievement. These findings highlight the need to promote both social and academic competence in the quest to further improve rates of high school graduation and post-secondary enrolment. The link between attachment to father and academic success also suggests that educational interventions should be focused on the family as well as the child. With regard to educational planning, the government-mandated curriculum should be adapted so that the Naskapi and majority education can be integrated in complementary ways rather than being pitted against each other in a way that allows for success on only one. Although each First Nations community is unique with regard to history, culture, language, and educational values, the identification of multiple predictors of academic success among Naskapi adolescents is likely relevant to other communities.

Thesis (M.S.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2009. / Title from PDF title page; viewed on Mar. 25, 2009. "March 2009." "In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree [of] Master of Science in Psychology." "Presented to the faculty of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo." Major professor: Lisa I. Sweatt, Ph.D. Includes bibliographical references (p. 102-103). Also available on microfiche.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Toronto, 2007. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2799.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Committee Chair: Cozzens, Susan; Committee Member: Boston, Thomas; Committee Member: Gaughan, Monica; Committee Member: Leggon, Cheryl; Committee Member: Shapira, Philip.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 230-236).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, June, 2010. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / Family structure is related to educational attainment; it is evident that individuals from two- parent homes complete on average more years of schooling and are more likely to graduate from high school, attend University and complete University as compared to peers raised in single-parent families. Parental characteristics such as educational level, income and parents, aspirations for their children are variables said to influence schooling outcomes of South African learners. Children from disadvantaged families are less likely to graduate from high school and attend an institution of higher learning. The aim of this study was to explore and describe how single parenting in a disadvantaged community influences a learner's decision to enrol at a higher education institution. An explorative and descriptive research design grounded in a qualitative research approach was utilised. Research participants were purposively selected from two senior secondary schools in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape. Three sets of data, namely (a) grade 12 learners raised by single parents (b) parents of these learners, and (c) principals and grade 12 Life Orientation teachers were collected for greater insight of this situation. Semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and field notes were used to collect the data. Tech's eight steps of data analysis were used. Ethical considerations such as confidentiality, voluntary participation, and informed consent from learners, parents, teachers and informed assent from learners younger than 18 years of age were adhered to. The greatest influences to enrolling into a higher education institution and the type of institution were family structure and the learner's socio-economic status. Learners feel responsible for taking care of their parents and siblings; therefore feel obligated to work after high school. Those that have the desire to study further are concerned about how they will finance their studies. The Department of Education (DoE) needs to conduct a needs assessment and provide schools with the resources they need. This includes teachers and administrative staff. The resources schools have influence school outcomes. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) need to do an analysis of what the barriers to enrolling into university and college are at the various schools. When they have identified these barriers they need to tailor-make their information sessions with high school learners so that they have all the necessary information before they assume enrolling at higher education institutions is inconceivable. Schools need to provide the necessary information about university and college; including available funding to learners and their parents from earlier grades. This will be of use to those who genuinely want to study further but are concerned about finances.

This thesis analyses the effect of father’s job displacement on his children’s occupational and educational choices. I use Finnish administrative data covering years 1989-2020 and identify downsizing as well as closing workplaces to find exogenous job losses. Despite identifying negative and persistent effects on displaced fathers, the found impact on their children’s career choices are limited and sensitive. I estimate that a paternal displacement decreases the probability of following father’s educational path by 0.5 percentage points. No effects on occupational mobility or educational applications are found. I establish pro-cyclical displacement costs for fathers that, however, are not found to translate into differences in the effects on the next generation.

No description available.