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After a series of major storms over the last 20 years, the state of financing for U.S. natural disaster insurance has undergone substantial disruptions causing many federal and state backed programs against residential property damage to become severally underfunded. In order to regain actuarial soundness, policy makers have proposed a shift to a system that reflects risk-based pricing for property insurance. We examine survey responses from 1394 single-family homeowners in the state of Florida for support of several natural disaster mitigation policy reforms. Utilizing a partial proportional odds model we test for effects of location, risk perception, socio-economic and housing characteristics on support for policy reforms. Our findings suggest residents across the state, not just risk-prone homeowners, support the current subsidized model. We also examine several other policy questions from the survey to verify our initial results. Finally, the implications of our findings are discussed to provide inputs to policymakers.

Underbanking, or use of alternative financial services such as payday lenders rather than traditional banks, is a practice that has substantial financial and social harm. Given that literature and prior research shows that immigrants face unique cultural barriers to financial assimilation, the current study examines how immigrant status influences one’s odds of being underbanked. Using the June 2015 Underbanking Supplement to the Current Population Survey, immigrants are delineated by first- and second-generation status, as well by the development status of their country of origin, and their relationship to underbanking is examined through a series of logistic regression analyses. Results indicate that first-generation immigrants from developing countries continue to face substantial barriers to full financial assimilation, while those from developed countries share similar outcomes as citizens. Second-generation immigrants whose parents are from developing countries, however, have lower odds to be underbanked, showing that generational progress is occurring. Implications of this analyses are that future research should not assume immigrants all share one monolithic experience in the context of economic integration.

This study has two primary objectives: first, to examine the characteristics of 75 offenders incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Talladega, Alabama, using the Pre-sentence Investigation (PSI) Report data, and second, to delve into the phenomenology of the offenders through a lengthy interview process. To achieve these objectives, three offenders types were constructed based on criminal history analysis: First-time Offenders, Repeat Drug Offenders, and Mixed Multiple Offenders. The study found that First-time Offenders were less deviant in all respects than the other two subtypes. First-time Offenders, hailing from lower-middle class environments, were relatively better educated, more skilled, employed for longer periods, and possessed more self-control than members of the other subtypes. First-time Offenders were frequently reared in intact homes with both parents present (or involved in their lives). Repeat Offenders had mostly drug convictions with or without traffic violations and misdemeanors charges. Mixed Multiple Offenders had lengthier arrest histories than other subtypes with a variety of convictions ranging from a simple battery to homicide, rape or armed robbery-indicating a more threatening, violent, and pervasive deviant and/or criminal lifestyle than First-time or Repeat Offenders. Unlike the First time Offenders, both the Repeat Drug Offenders and Mixed Multiple Offenders were relatively less educated, less skilled, employed for less periods of time or sporadically or irregularly employed, and were reared in lower class, broken homes environments with a larger number of family members present. Findings from this study provide a more in-depth understanding of what criminal behavior means to those who commit criminal acts and their life circumstances under which it occurs. These findings will enable social workers to design and implement more effective intervention strategies to assist offenders with their behavioral problems

From different traditions, research in the field of sociology of cultural taste and consumption has argued that contemporary societies are symbolically stratified through cultural engagement. These theoretical frameworks differ mainly in their explanations of the mechanisms that shape the relationship between culture and social stratification. Motivated by concepts from Pierre Bourdieu, Richard A. Peterson, and other key scholars, this thesis is focused on addressing the relationship between music consumption and social stratification. Due to its peculiar characteristics, music provides a good illustration of how people, through cultural engagement, draw boundaries that symbolically differentiate social groups. Although literature in the area has made great progress, there are still theoretical and empirical gaps. It is possible to find some passionate views which deny the relevance of some operationalisations and methods over others (Wuggenig, 2007; Chan, 2010a). From a comparative point of view it is questioned whether different dimensions of cultural practices can deliver consistent results (Peterson, 2005; Purhonen, Gronow and Rahkonen, 2011; Yaish and Katz-Gerro, 2012). Research which focuses on comparisons between societies frequently lacks detailed theoretical conceptualisations regarding how cultural items are distributed in different social settings (Katz-Gerro, 2011; Purhonen and Wright, 2013). Other important gap in the literature is the lack of understanding about how technologies act as an element of social distinction (López-Sintas, Cebollada, Filimon and Gharhaman, 2014). The main objective of this research is therefore to review how research has defined and studied the relationship between culture and society across several perspectives and to offer new insights which significantly contribute to the advancement of knowledge of the sociology of cultural taste and consumption. This is motivation for the development of four research articles which use several quantitative methods to analyse survey data from Austria, England, Chile, Finland, Israel and Serbia. This thesis shows that musical engagement, regardless of how and where it is measured, remains socially stratified. Age is the primary stratifying factor for musical engagement, highlighting the distinction between popular music preferred by the younger age cohorts, and the classical or traditional music of the older. Both are reinforced by educational level and social class. Individuals displaying broader musical preferences are more likely to be in advantageous positions. This concurs with arguments about omnivorism as a manifestation of cultural homology in the classic Bourdieusian sense (Lizardo and Skiles, 2012). Thanks to the innovative analysis of available data and the use of more specific cultural indicators it is possible to elaborate research questions to address the study of musical engagement and its place in society, integrating research methods, theory of practices, local and global contexts, and technologies as salient analytical dimensions.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between religiosity and life satisfaction among Latter-day Saints (LDS) college students. The scales used were the religiosity scale by Chadwick and Top (1993), and the life satisfaction scale by Neugarten, Havighurst and Tobin (1961). The analysis was based on data obtained from 222 students (55.5%) who responded. A prediction model was used to develop a regression equation. Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between religiosity and life satisfaction. The regression equation is as follows: life satisfaction = 1.436815592 + 0.045915152 (spiritual experiences) + 0.042888274 (integration in congregation). A significant correlation of 0.0230 (p<.05) was found for spiritual experiences, and 0.0215 (p<.05) for integration in congregation. But no significant correlation was found between life satisfaction and the other factors such as gender, age, religious beliefs, private religious behavior, attendance/public behavior, and family religious. Spiritual experiences and integration in congregation were the only factors correlated with higher life satisfaction scores.

Abstract In a two-level hierarchical linear model(HLM2), the outcome as well as covariates may have missing values at any of the levels. One way to analyze all available data in the model is to estimate a multivariate normal joint distribution of variables, including the outcome, subject to missingness conditional on covariates completely observed by maximum likelihood(ML); draw multiple imputation (MI) of missing values given the estimated joint model; and analyze the hierarchical model given the MI [1,2]. The assumption is data missing at random (MAR). While this method yields efficient estimation of the hierarchical model, it often estimates the model given discrete missing data that is handled under multivariate normality. In this thesis, we evaluate how robust it is to estimate a hierarchical linear model given discrete missing data by the method. We simulate incompletely observed data from a series of hierarchical linear models given discrete covariates MAR, estimate the models by the method, and assess the sensitivity of handling discrete missing data under the multivariate normal joint distribution by computing bias, root mean squared error, standard error, and coverage probability in the estimated hierarchical linear models via a series of simulation studies. We want to achieve the following aim: Evaluate the performance of the method handling binary covariates MAR. We let the missing patterns of level-1 and -2 binary covariates depend on completely observed variables and assess how the method handles binary missing data given different values of success probabilities and missing rates. Based on the simulation results, the missing data analysis is robust under certain parameter settings. Efficient analysis performs very well for estimation of level-1 fixed and random effects across varying success probabilities and missing rates. MAR estimation of level-2 binary covariate is not well estimated when the missing rate in level-2 binary covariate is greater than 10%. The rest of the thesis is organized as follows: Section 1 introduces the background information including conventional methods for hierarchical missing data analysis, different missing data mechanisms, and the innovation and significance of this study. Section 2 explains the efficient missing data method. Section 3 represents the sensitivity analysis of the missing data method and explain how we carry out the simulation study using SAS, software package HLM7, and R. Section 4 illustrates the results and useful recommendations for researchers who want to use the missing data method for binary covariates MAR in HLM2. Section 5 presents an illustrative analysis National Growth of Health Study (NGHS) by the missing data method. The thesis ends with a list of useful references that will guide the future study and simulation codes we used.

This study presents the findings of how and to what extent immigration effects Native and Mexican-born Mexican American’s relationships with others. This study was quantitative and measured participant’s levels and qualities of interactions with others. The participants in this study were students from California State University, San Bernardino’s School of Social Work. The student population that was targeted was Native and Mexican-born Mexican Americans. The participants were contacted via email and provided with a questionnaire that measured the quality and quantity of interpersonal relationships they held with others. The original sample size consisted of 53 participants but reduced to a sample size of N=40 after incomplete or non-relevant participants were removed. Qualtrics was used to test the key variables of social ties with others, strong bonds with others, and how negative experiences affected these interactions with others. SPSS assisted in describing the findings through statistical graphs and this researcher interpreted the findings through univariate and bivariate statistics. No significant findings were found to support the hypothesis that negative immigration experiences negative affect the quality and quantity that Native and Mexico-born Mexican Americans have with others.

Latino youth experience factors unique to their own ethnicity, and it is partly these factors which play a significant role in their decision to engage in delinquent activity. Perpetual bias, criminalization, and punitive punishment at the hands of those with authoritative power also contribute to Latino youth’s decisions to engage in delinquent activity as a coping mechanism. Although trends in Latino youth crime have been decreasing and are presently at historic lows, an analysis of the factors that drive the respective trends will allow insight into creating policy suggestions to benefit the growing Latino community as a whole. Motivation to reduce trends in Latino youth crime primarily through a deep understanding of the culture include utilized its strengths to successfully rehabilitate and nurture at-risk youth. Implementation of community-based groups in at-risk neighborhoods should be the first step to laying the groundwork of reducing Latino youth crime.

This study examines the relationship between school support, family support, community support, teen parenting programs and postsecondary education among teen mothers in North Carolina. The sample consisted of 212 participants who became teen mothers between the ages of 13-19 and have since attained postsecondary education. The variables used for the study included the following: school support, family support, community support, teen parenting programs, resilience, and mentoring. The research employed a 33-item, five-point Likert scale questionnaire. Explanatory design was utilized to create the study. Purposive and snowball sampling was utilized to gather the data. The findings of the study, overall, indicates that majority of the participants believe that school support, family support, community support, teen parenting programs, resilience, and mentoring helped them to attain postsecondary education.