Protective factors against problem gambling are important to study, and this thesis focuses on religious affiliation and family solidarity. In this study, 100 Métis Ontarians aged 46-88 completed a cross-sectional survey. The relationships of problem gambling risk with alcohol misuse, age, gender, religious affiliation, and family solidarity were explored. Intergenerational religious concordance (passing down religious affiliation through generations) was examined in the context of healthy family functioning. A qualitative research question asked participants about the potential relationship between religious beliefs and gambling behaviour. Participants at moderate or high risk of problem gambling (score of two or more on the Problem Gambling Severity Index) were more likely than those at no or low risk to say that they perceive a relationship between their gambling behaviour and their religious beliefs. / Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre

xi, 69 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / In the context of Judeo-Christian theology, I develop what appears to be the first formal economic model to analyze the joint interactions between human actors and a divine actor involved in the production of good works. Human actors are identified as trusting believers, doubting believers, or nonbelievers. The divine actor is perceived as offering four different alternative contracts, an ex ante contract without a penalty, an ex post contract, an ex ante contract with a penalty, and a covenant. Contract types are identified with specific religious affiliations. The amount of good works produced depends on the strength of faith and the contractual choices of the individual, as implied by religious affiliation. I test explicit predictions of the model using individual survey data from a nationally representative sample. My results suggest that (1) ex post contracts "work" (attendance is greater for trusting believers under ex post contracts than under ex ante contracts without a penalty); (2) strength of faith does not matter (good works are equivalent for both trusting and doubting believers under ex ante contracts); (3) penalties do not "work" for believers (attendance is no greater for believers under ex ante contracts with a penalty than under ex ante contracts without a penalty); and (4) covenants "work" (attendance is the same for believers under covenants as under ex ante contracts without a penalty). Tests focus either on the model's counterintuitive predictions for the role of strength of faith for a given contract type or on the role of religious affiliation and contract type for a given strength of faith. The tests suggest substantial power for the model's predictions. Even so, the dissertation emphasizes throughout the limitations of a purely economic analysis of the Judeo-Christian tradition and theology. / Committee in charge: Joe Stone, Co-Chairperson, Economics; Jo Anna Gray, Co-Chairperson, Economics; Larry Singell, Member, Economics; Jean Stockard, Outside Member, Planning Public Policy & Mgmt

Historically, research has connected religiosity to many economic concepts in the United States. Religiosity can be a primary factor in the development of attitudes and values regarding financial issues and personal wealth. This study further expands the sociology of religion and economics by examining how differences in religious affiliation, attendance, and sociodemographic factors affect attitudes regarding personal wealth and financial behaviors. Previous studies have concentrated on religious differences in income, education, and life course achievement; however, few studies, if any, have directly measured religiosity and subjective attitudes toward personal wealth. Using the PEW Research Center's Economy Survey from February 2008, this examination uses multiple regression models to understand the extent to which religiosity affects wealth attitudes in America. Indicators of subjective wealth incorporated in the analysis are satisfaction of vehicle and home, ability to take preferable vacations, and desirable amount of discretionary income. The results of this study are discussed, as well as potential options for future research.

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Consideration is given in this thesis to the relationship of religious affiliation of Catholics, Anglicans and Other Major Protestant denominations, to secular attitudes and reported behavior. The latter is analyzed in terms of the political, as manifested in voting preferences, and the economic, as illustrated by attitudes toward work and reported behavior in leisure periods. Leisure time activity was examined in the areas of reading, hobbies and visiting of friends and relatives. The data used in this study was obtained from The McMaster Study of Life in the City conducted in the North End of the City of Hamilton, Ontario in the summer of 1962. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Daraus leitet sich folgende Forschungsfrage ab: Hat die Intensität der religiösen Überzeugung einer Person Einfluss auf eine ungleiche Arbeitsteilung im Haushalt? Die Basishypothese dieses Aufsatzes besteht in Folgendem: Je religiöser sich eine befragte Person einschätzt, desto häufiger werden in einem partnerschaftlichen Haushalt als weiblich konnotierte Haushaltstätigkeiten von der Ehefrau bzw. Lebenspartnerin ausgeführt. Auf die methodischen Implikationen wird später ausführlich eingegangen. Aus der Basishypothese werden nun empirisch prüfbare Hypothesen gebildet, die weiterführend eine Grundlage für die Prüfung von Interaktionseffekten bilden. Damit soll herausgefunden werden, in welchem Umfang Religiosität mental vernetzt ist, also nachweisbare Wirkungen moderiert und damit als eine zentrale Variable in der Verarbeitung sozialer Bedingungen angesehen werden kann.

Bereavement is an important area of research as it may result in grief reactions that lead to serious psychological and health consequences (Stroebe, Schut, & Stroebe, 2007). Positive outcomes, such as personal growth or spiritual well-being, may also transpire post-loss (Hogan & Schmidt, 2002; Paloutzian & Ellison, 1982). Though research on bereavement has grown, few studies have focused on the at-risk group of emerging adults (Hardison, Neimeyer, & Lichstein, 2005; Arnett, 2000). The current study aims to add to the bereavement in emerging adulthood literature through analyzing descriptive data and assessing the impact of type of loss (i.e., nonviolent vs. violent), religious affiliation (i.e., Affiliated/Christian vs. Unaffiliated), and religious coping on post-loss grief intensity, personal growth, and spiritual well-being among emerging adults. Although results did not support several hypotheses, findings from the current study reinforce and expand extant literature on bereavement and religiosity/spirituality in emerging adults.

This thesis aims to contribute to the ongoing critical discussion within the sociology of religion by focusing on the seldom considered perspective of methodology. As such, it consists of a theoretical part that problematizes the ways in which religion has been analyzed, and an empirical part that develops how religiosity can be approached in sociological studies. The thesis seeks, in other words, to contribute to how sociologists analyze religion, and addresses a research problem that has gained new relevance in the aftermath of criticism of the secularization paradigm. In the theoretical part, the assumptions underlying the ways in which religion is studied are revisited, as is the impact that these have had as faras the empirical study of religion is concerned in one of the countries often assumed to be secularized – i.e. Sweden. The empirical part of the thesis is comprised of three studies based on the latest European Value Survey, qualitative interviews and the Blogosphere on religion-related content (n=220000 blog posts). The results from these studies are used to reconsider the religiousmainstream, the “package”-like assumptions often made about affiliation, belief and practice, as well as the fact that the study of religiosity tends to be relegated to the periphery of the imagination of sociologists of religion. The thesis proposes that if we want to study religion in a lay people sensitive way we cannot continue to overlook their understandings of the sacred, the ways in which they regard their own religiosity, and the fact that their affiliation,belief and practice do not necessarily fit the expectations of established ways of analyzing religion.

<p>The purpose of this essay is to examine and compare narrations by five witnesses, who has written about atrocities against Christians from 1915 to 1919 in what is today south-eastern Turkey, but what was then the Ottoman Empire. I have focused on how the roles of perpetrators, victims, spectators and protectors are featured in the witness narrations. Four questions were posed in the study: Who are portrayed as perpetrators, victims, bystanders and protectors in the various witness narrations? How are these roles expressed in the witness narrations? What differences can be found among the five selected witness narrations from Mardin and Urfa, 1915-1919? What are the explanations of the differences in the witness narrations? The method I have used has been an analysis in which I compare how the different narrations capture the events of 1915-1919. I have used three factors to look at the explanations why there may be differences in the witness narrations. The three factors are nationality, position, and religious affiliation. In the comparison and the results of the witness narrations, I have found that the three factors affect the way the authors write about the events and that these factors help to explain the differences in the witness narrations. These factors are a part of the authors’ respective worldviews. Also, local differences, power constellations, and political factors meant that witness narrations differed.</p>

The purpose of this essay is to examine and compare narrations by five witnesses, who has written about atrocities against Christians from 1915 to 1919 in what is today south-eastern Turkey, but what was then the Ottoman Empire. I have focused on how the roles of perpetrators, victims, spectators and protectors are featured in the witness narrations. Four questions were posed in the study: Who are portrayed as perpetrators, victims, bystanders and protectors in the various witness narrations? How are these roles expressed in the witness narrations? What differences can be found among the five selected witness narrations from Mardin and Urfa, 1915-1919? What are the explanations of the differences in the witness narrations? The method I have used has been an analysis in which I compare how the different narrations capture the events of 1915-1919. I have used three factors to look at the explanations why there may be differences in the witness narrations. The three factors are nationality, position, and religious affiliation. In the comparison and the results of the witness narrations, I have found that the three factors affect the way the authors write about the events and that these factors help to explain the differences in the witness narrations. These factors are a part of the authors’ respective worldviews. Also, local differences, power constellations, and political factors meant that witness narrations differed.