Hispanic students often suffer from acculturative stress as they adapt to U.S. college environments; however, few scholars have examined the acculturative stress relationship among undocumented versus documented Hispanic college students. In this quantitative, correlational study design, adaptation levels related to acculturative stress between both statuses were examined. The theoretical foundations of this study are based on the social cognitive career theory. This investigation focused on determining how adaptation levels predict Hispanic college students' acculturative stress and whether this realtionship differ between documented and undocumented college students. The I-Adapt measure was used to measure participants' level of adaptability and the social, attitudinal, familial and educational or the Social, Attitudinal, Familial and Educational (S.A.F.E) measurement was used to measure their acculturative stress levels. The sample consisted of 165 Hispanic college students recruited from a private northeastern university. Contrarily to the main hypothesis, Regression analysis revealed that higher levels of cultural and crisis adaptability predicted lower levels of acculturative stress while higher levels of work stress adaptability predicted higher levels of acculturative stress. Future research should focus on further examination differences in adaptation toward acculturative stress and the aftermath of acculturative stress adaptation methods between documented and undocumented college students. The findings of this study can contribute to social change by informing immigration laws to adopt in order to protect college educated, skilled and productive immigrants.

The purpose of this study was to examine the reasons for the decline of young adult church attendance after an affiliation with church during childhood. Religion plays an important role in the lives of African Americans as a coping mechanism for loss, adversity, racism, and trauma. In addition, spiritual exploration is a component of psychological development during maturation. Using the social identity theory, the study explored the impact of childhood church affiliation and coping styles of young adults. African American Youth between 18 and 30 years old were randomly selected to complete a combination of questions from the Lasting Faith Scale, Private Religious Practices questions, Brief Religious/Spiritual Coping, and Organizational Religiousness scales (n = 103) via Survey Monkey to (a) assess variables which contributed to their decision on whether or not to continue participating in organized fellowship and (b) examine the relationship between the childhood affiliation and their adult coping styles. The design for the study was quantitative and comprised of correlational measurements using Spearman's Rho. Among young adults who attended church as children, there was a significant positive relationship between church attendance and positive spiritual coping. This study will increase church leaders' understanding of this congregation's needs. It will provide a framework for program development that addresses the needs of young adults as related to coping styles. The implication for social change is a greater understanding from church leaders and young adults of what is beneficial for the spiritual development of children and how it is related to identity and coping factors later in life.

This study was conducted to identify what principles leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were teaching women about their gender roles and expectations from 2000 through 2007, and to investigate whether age, marital status, or media exposure correlated with women's perceptions of levels of importance of those concepts to both their leaders and to themselves personally. This study used deductive and inductive framing analyses to examine visiting teaching messages and General Conference Relief Society talks published in the Ensign, the official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The study built on those results to create a survey conducted with LDS women living in Cache Valley, Utah, in 2008. Survey results provided insight into levels of importance LDS women living in Cache Valley assigned to doctrinal and cultural concepts surrounding the "ideal Mormon woman." The doctrine reflected an overwhelming emphasis on both inner spiritual characteristics and religiously motivated actions. Lack of correlation between exposure to either visiting teaching messages or General Conference talks and what the women said Church leaders thought was important indicated some disconnect between what was being taught and what the LDS women reported. Although leaders' priorities were revealed by the frequency with which they taught individual components of the doctrine, the women did not recognize those priorities. Instead, they perceived that nearly everything was very important or important to their leaders. The women also indicated that although religiously motivated actions were very important, inner spiritual characteristics were even more important to them personally. Although the women reported inner spiritual characteristics as more important, they were also taking on responsibilities for those behaviors that may be more visible and easily compared to others. Exposure to General Conference talks correlated highly with how important survey items were to the women personally, which may indicate a channel of communication that is working for Church leaders. Statistically significant correlations in women's perceptions about what their leaders think and what they think personally were also found according to age and marital status, but there are not consistent trends that can be easily summarized.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The main research question of this project is: How do the narratives of Caribbean black middle class civil society within the bounds of the “post-postcolonial” state, explain the evolving yet current environment of local and postcolonial civil society development? Using the Bahamas as a case, this project explores the historical, political, cultural, and social conditions that supported the development of civil society within the context of a postcolonial society. Furthermore, an investigation via in-depth interviews, participation observation, archival, and contemporary document analysis contextualizes the present-day work of civil society leaders in the Bahamas. Methodologically, the project employs narrative analysis to uncover the perspectives, voices, and practices of black middle-class Bahamian civil society offering an unfolding, dynamic, and nuanced approach for understanding the historical legacies and contemporary structure of local civil society and philanthropy. The study focuses on three primary forms of narratives. These include the narratives of the past (historical), the narratives of expressive and aesthetic cultural practices, and the narratives of lived experience. The project locates that the development of civil society is linked to historical and cultural forces. The findings show that that the narratives of history, social, and artistic development foregrounds a hybrid model of civil society development drawn from the experience of slavery, colonialism, decolonization, as well as the emerging structures related to economic and political globalization. Furthermore, observed through resilience narratives, local civil society leaders negotiate the boundaries of hybridity in their understanding of their personal, social, and professional identities as well as the way in which they engage government, the public, as well as local and international funders.

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Background and aim: The consumption of illicit drugs remains stable among youths in Sweden, yet an increase in consumption has been observed in affluent areas. This study aims to explore the reasons for illicit drug use in these areas and if this could be further understood using Social Identity Theory. Methods: Twenty participants from four high schools in an affluent municipality participated in semi-structured in-depth interviews regarding substance use. The interviews were coded using thematic analysis and six themes emerged.  Results: Social influence was the prominent influence for illicit drug use. Furthermore, this use was normalized and availability was high. The influence of family norms and outspoken negative effects of drugs caused a decrease in consumption. Conclusion: These results are in accordance with previous research claiming social influence on illicit drug use, and further confirms this in an affluent area. Social Identity Theory (i.e. how informants categorize, identify and compare themselves with their social group) had an impact on consumption.

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Interviews with impact investors have been conducted to gain a clearer understanding of how socially sustainable investments are made taking into account the identity and gender views of impact investors. The gender lens applied to the study aimed to investigate how gender has been taken into account during company audits and before investment decisions by the impact investors. Furthermore, social identity theory has formed the basis for the deductive study that has been carried out. It has been used to study the impact investors' self-image and how they acted in their professional role in order to gain a deeper understanding of the origin of the impact investors' actions in relation to their identity. These actions have been thematised and examined in terms of criteria, actions, challenges and measures. The recurring factor that most influenced both the company assessment and investment decisions was the dual goals of impact investors, financial return and impact. The clearest contribution the study made was that there is a clearer link between impact investors' self-image and their profession compared to other professionals. How this affects impact investors' actions could not be discerned. Furthermore, the study also found that gender is not taken into account during company audits and investment decisions to the extent that previous research has shown. Risk understanding, potentially increased returns and social sustainability are possible outcomes that gender lens investments contribute to. The study's findings suggest that impact investors were aware of this, yet few of the study's respondents were willing to consider gender when making investment decisions. / Intervjuer med impact-investerare har genomförts för att skapa en tydligare förståelse för hur socialt hållbara investeringar sker med hänsyn till impact-investerarnas identitet och syn på genus. Den genuslins som applicerats på studien avsåg att undersöka hur genus har beaktats under företagsbesiktningar och inför investeringsbeslut av impact-investerarna. Vidare har social identitetsteori legat till grund för den deduktiva studie som gjorts. Den har nyttjats för att studera impact-investerarnas självbild och hur de agerade i sin yrkesroll för att få en djupare förståelse för härkomsten av impact-investerarens aktioner i relation till sin identitet. Dessa aktioner har tematiserats och undersökts utifrån kriterier, handlingar, effekter och åtgärder. Den återkommande faktorn som påverkade både företagsbesiktningen och investeringsbesluten i störst utsträckning var de dubbla målen impact-investerare arbetar mot, finansiell avkastning och impact. Det tydligaste bidraget studien medförde var att det fanns en tydlig koppling mellan impact- investerarnas självbild och förhållandet till deras yrkesgrupp och kultur. Hur det påverkar impact-investerarnas aktioner kunde inte urskiljas. Fortsättningsvis fann studien även att genus inte tas i beaktning under företagsbesiktningar och inför investeringsbeslut i den utsträckning som tidigare forskning visat. Riskförståelse, potentiellt ökad avkastning samt social hållbarhet är möjliga utfall som genuslinsinvesteringar bidrar till. Studiens resultat tyder på att impact-investerarna var medvetna om detta. Trots det var få av studiens respondenter villiga att beakta genus inför investeringsbeslut.