Low public acceptance of evolution among Americans in general, and conservative Protestants specifically, has recently received increased attention among scholars of both religion and the public understanding of science. At the same time, members of another major religious tradition, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), reject evolution at rates similar to evangelical Christians, yet there remains a dearth of studies examining the lack of acceptance of evolution among Mormons. Using a nationally representative survey of Americans that contains an adequate number of LDS respondents for advanced statistical analyses, this study examines patterns of evolution acceptance or rejection among Mormons. Findings reveal a moderating relationship between political identity and education, such that educational attainment has a positive relationship with evolution acceptance among political moderates and liberals, but a negative association among political conservatives. These findings highlight the central role played by the politicization of evolution in low rates of evolution acceptance among American Mormons and emphasize the need to—where possible—examine relations between ‘science and religion’ within and across specific religious traditions.

By operationalizing Gordon's definition of structural assimilation, I examine occupational prestige, income, and educational attainment across four immigrant groups: 1.5 generation, 2nd generation, 3rd generation, and 4th generation. Additionally, I analyze the effect of religious affiliation, frequency of attendance, religious conversion, context of reception, and selective acculturation on each of the three measures of structural assimilation. Ethnic origin, gender, and age are implemented as control variables. Results provide evidence that religion does affect measures of structural assimilation. While impacts on occupational prestige and income seem minimal to non-existent, the effect of religion on educational attainment is more substantial. Religion indirectly affects occupational prestige and income outcomes due to their strong relationship to educational attainment.

Defines State Hope Scale.

The U.S. military has downsized since the early 2000s and has plans to continue to decrease their forces. There are negative implications many veterans experience after discharge. Using the transition theory as the framework for this study, the purpose of this between-groups study was to explore the differences in life satisfaction scores between voluntarily- and involuntarily-discharged U.S. service members and the associations between educational attainment, social support, and length of service. The participants were honorable discharged U.S. service members. A total of 182 participants were included in this study; 141 were voluntarily discharged and 41 were involuntarily discharged. The participants were recruited through Walden's participant pool, flyers, and Facebook. The Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and a demographic questionnaire were used to identify participants' life satisfaction scores, amount of perceived social support, and personal information. Based on the results of t tests and hierarchical linear regressions, there were no differences in life satisfaction scores between voluntarily and involuntarily discharged service members. Social support and educational attainment were statistically significant predictors of life satisfaction for discharged service members. The positive social change implications of this study include increasing mental health workers' awareness of U.S. service members and the factors that affect life satisfaction after discharge.

Decreasing retention rates have become a serious issue at several universities in the United States. At a university in middle Georgia, retention rates have been steadily declining for the last several years. The purpose of this study was to explore how the faculty at this university might implement more educational services on campus to increase retention. Bandura's theoretical framework of self-efficacy was used in this qualitative case study. Key questions for the study asked faculty about what programs or instructional strategies they believe currently offer support to retaining students at this university, how faculty at the university perceive that they contribute to retention and graduation, and what factors faculty observe that affect student retention and graduation. Ten faculty members at the university were randomly sampled and participated in face-to-face interviews. The data was analyzed by hand using themes. The data analysis revealed that faculty believed student retention might be increased through improved student engagement, building better faculty and student rapport, developing concrete retention goals, and implementing a mentoring program. A 3-day professional development training program was designed for faculty members to increase their knowledge of student retention, student engagement, goal attainment, and services that could be beneficial in student retention. The project resulting from this research may encourage the faculty and the university to implement more resources and services for students so as to increase the retention rates. This study promotes social change by providing faculty members the results of the study and illuminating the ways to strengthen and increase the services on their campus.

The objective of this dissertation is to investigate the effect of sibling structure on women's and men's socialization and achievement outcomes in three areas: housework performance, education, and occupation. Data from China and the United States are used for analyses. The findings indicate that the effect of sibling structure largely depends on the cultural and structural contexts in each society. More specifically, although women and men on average have the same sibling structure, the meaning of sibling configuration is different for women and men because of macro-level factors, such as cultural expectations, gender stereotypes, historical legacy, and political propaganda, and micro-level factors, such as parental preferences, parent-child communication and sibling competition. To examine the effect of sibling structure on each outcome, I conduct three empirical studies. In the first study, using data from the 2006 wave of the China Health and Nutrition Survey, I investigate the effect of sibling structure on children's housework performance. The results show that sibship size, sex composition, and birth order are important predictors of children's housework performance in China. On average, children's probability of doing housework increases as number of siblings increases and singletons are least likely to do housework. In two-child families, for girls, a brother increases the likelihood of doing housework, whereas a sister has no impact. For boys, the presence of a younger brother increases the likelihood of performing housework, whereas a sister and an older brother have no impact. In the second study, I focus on the effect of sibling structure on educational attainment and the role of siblings' education in this relationship. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) are used for analyses. I find that the effects of sibship size and sibling sex composition on educational attainment are mediated through siblings' educational achievements. These effects are divergent for men and women. For women, sibship size and sex composition do not impact their educational attainment after accounting for siblings' educations. For men, only the number of brothers (but not sisters) has a negative effect on their educational attainment after controlling for siblings' educational achievements. In the third study, I investigate the influence of birth order on the prestige and sex type of adolescents' occupational aspirations using the first wave of the NLSY79. The results indicate that for both females and males, firstborn and lastborn adolescents on average expect higher prestige occupations compared to middleborns, and lastborns are more likely to have nontraditional occupational aspirations than firstborns and middleborns. Taken together, the results suggest that the gender gap in important child and adult behavioral outcomes is smaller among individuals with fewer siblings, fewer brothers, and among lastborn young adults.

There is a significant degree of controversy surrounding the transfer mission of community colleges. Specifically, many researchers have suggested that these institutions divert the educational attainments, and thus social mobility, of disadvantaged groups (Brint & Karabel, 1989; Dougherty, 1987, 1992, 1994; Karabel, 1972). Others suggest that community colleges provide disadvantaged individuals, who would have otherwise failed to consider a postsecondary education, with a viable path by which to attain a four-year degree (Cohen & Brawer, 1996; Hilmer, 1997; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). This study sought to determine whether the path to social mobility, via educational attainment, differed for bachelor's degree aspirants who commenced their postsecondary education at a community college, versus a four-year institution, in terms of enrollment outcomes three-years later (i.e., at a four-year institution, a selective or highly-selective four-year institution, and/or a privately-controlled four-year institution). Specifically, hierarchical logistic regression analyses were used to determine whether the effect of initial enrollment location on the odds of year-four enrollment outcomes depended on student characteristics (i.e., race/ethnicity, generational status, family income, prior academic achievements, and/or psychosocial factors) among a large representative sample of students who started their postsecondary education at either a community college or a four-year institution in the fall semester of 2003. Results suggest that student characteristics do not detrimentally modify the effect of initial community college enrollment on students' odds of later enrollment outcomes. In addition, the results suggest that after accounting for the effects of initial enrollment location and other predictors, the effect of standardized test scores appears to significantly increase the odds of being enrolled at a selective or highly selective four-year institution for students who initially matriculated to a community college rather than a four-year institution. The findings are discussed in terms of implications for consumers of higher education, vocational psychologists, as well as postsecondary institutions and educational policy.

<p>Smoking is a health problem with a negative impact on virtually all body organs. Smoking can cause, for example, lung cancer, cancers in other organs and cardiovascular disease. There is also a social aspect of smoking. If individuals have many smokers in their environment, the risk to start smoking is increased, and for those who already smoke the chance of quitting will be less. Many municipalities today face smoke-free working to reduce smoking and passive smoking adverse effects. The Kristianstad municipality has not introduced smoke-free working. The purpose of this study was to investigate the employees in Kristianstad municipality attitudes to smoke-free working hours as a basis for a change. The method used was a quantitative cross-sectional study by questionnaire. The data collection was conducted in four administrations with a web questionnaire and the number of respondents was 207. The results showed that a majority of the employees in Kristianstad municipality wants to introduce smoke-free working. It was concluded that smoke-free working has strong links with smoking habits, the social environment and education.</p><p>Keywords: Smoking, attitude, social, educational attainment, participation.</p>

Thesis (M.S.) -- University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2006. / Title from title page screen (viewed on Feb. 14, 2007). Thesis advisor: John W. Haas . Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Smoking is a health problem with a negative impact on virtually all body organs. Smoking can cause, for example, lung cancer, cancers in other organs and cardiovascular disease. There is also a social aspect of smoking. If individuals have many smokers in their environment, the risk to start smoking is increased, and for those who already smoke the chance of quitting will be less. Many municipalities today face smoke-free working to reduce smoking and passive smoking adverse effects. The Kristianstad municipality has not introduced smoke-free working. The purpose of this study was to investigate the employees in Kristianstad municipality attitudes to smoke-free working hours as a basis for a change. The method used was a quantitative cross-sectional study by questionnaire. The data collection was conducted in four administrations with a web questionnaire and the number of respondents was 207. The results showed that a majority of the employees in Kristianstad municipality wants to introduce smoke-free working. It was concluded that smoke-free working has strong links with smoking habits, the social environment and education. Keywords: Smoking, attitude, social, educational attainment, participation.