This dissertation contributes to our understanding of the ‘class’ and gender dimensions of educational inequality. In doing this, it uses a “structure-disposition-practice” model that is rooted in Bourdieu’s theory of cultural and social reproduction but also draws from the theoretical formulations of subsequent sociologists to elaborate on the core concept, habitus, and make it more amenable to quantitative analyses. Habitus is a socialized set of dispositions that shapes how individuals orient to the social world, including their perception of their life chances and corresponding styles of thought and behaviour. The model posits that students’ habitus is a formative influence on how they react to their educational environments and affects their academic achievement. Furthermore, students’ habitus is affected by both their social ‘class’ and their gender, and these ‘class’ and gender differences help explain ‘class’ and gender disparities in educational achievement. Working with multilevel Canadian data from the linked PISA-YITS surveys, this study uses structural modeling to examine the relationships between family socioeconomic status, sex, habitus, academic practices, and academic achievement. As well, school contextual effects are included. A number of the findings were consistent with hypotheses. Most notably, the results provide some evidence that students’ family SES significantly affects their habitus and that their habitus significantly affects their academic achievement. For the most part gender differences in the model were modest, but a few differences were evident: the boys outscore the girls in math and science while the girls excel in reading, students’ SES has a relatively stronger effect on the girls’ academic achievement than on the boys’ achievement, while students’ habitus affects the boys’ academic achievement more strongly than the girls’ achievement. Finally, the average SES of the schools students attend affects both the boys’ and the girls’ academic achievement, but this effect is stronger for the boys, and the effect of the boys’ habitus on their academic achievement diminishes slightly as the average SES of the schools they attend increases; no such contextual interaction was evident for the girls. Overall, the results of this study give qualified support to Bourdieu’s framework and the potential of habitus and the “structure-disposition-practice” model to help us understand ‘class’ and gender differences in academic achievement.

This dissertation contributes to our understanding of the ‘class’ and gender dimensions of educational inequality. In doing this, it uses a “structure-disposition-practice” model that is rooted in Bourdieu’s theory of cultural and social reproduction but also draws from the theoretical formulations of subsequent sociologists to elaborate on the core concept, habitus, and make it more amenable to quantitative analyses. Habitus is a socialized set of dispositions that shapes how individuals orient to the social world, including their perception of their life chances and corresponding styles of thought and behaviour. The model posits that students’ habitus is a formative influence on how they react to their educational environments and affects their academic achievement. Furthermore, students’ habitus is affected by both their social ‘class’ and their gender, and these ‘class’ and gender differences help explain ‘class’ and gender disparities in educational achievement. Working with multilevel Canadian data from the linked PISA-YITS surveys, this study uses structural modeling to examine the relationships between family socioeconomic status, sex, habitus, academic practices, and academic achievement. As well, school contextual effects are included. A number of the findings were consistent with hypotheses. Most notably, the results provide some evidence that students’ family SES significantly affects their habitus and that their habitus significantly affects their academic achievement. For the most part gender differences in the model were modest, but a few differences were evident: the boys outscore the girls in math and science while the girls excel in reading, students’ SES has a relatively stronger effect on the girls’ academic achievement than on the boys’ achievement, while students’ habitus affects the boys’ academic achievement more strongly than the girls’ achievement. Finally, the average SES of the schools students attend affects both the boys’ and the girls’ academic achievement, but this effect is stronger for the boys, and the effect of the boys’ habitus on their academic achievement diminishes slightly as the average SES of the schools they attend increases; no such contextual interaction was evident for the girls. Overall, the results of this study give qualified support to Bourdieu’s framework and the potential of habitus and the “structure-disposition-practice” model to help us understand ‘class’ and gender differences in academic achievement.

The proliferation of social media and other online forums has allowed female patients to share their experiences in the healthcare system. Female patients and women’s health advocates can more easily speak out about instances of gender bias in medicine, which impact women’s access to equitable healthcare and positive healthcare experiences. Although there are some medical studies addressing gender disparities in various aspects of medicine, the impacts of gender bias on healthcare remain understudied and poorly understood. Patient narratives therefore provide an essential insight into the state of gender bias in medicine today. This paper aims to explore these narratives for common themes, to determine whether the current medical literature supports the presence of gender-based disparities, and to highlight the biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors impacting any disparities. Patient narratives frequently cite frustrations with diagnostic errors or delays and inadequate pain management, and the medical literature generally supports women’s accounts of gender disparities in these areas. Several studies of diagnostic disparities show that women more frequently experience delays in diagnosis, missed diagnoses, and incorrect psychiatric diagnoses. Multiple pain management studies have found that women face longer delays in care, lower rates of analgesic administration (particularly opiates), and fewer referrals for nonpharmacologic management strategies. Explanations for these disparities are likely multifactorial, and include provider ignorance of female-specific presentations and diseases, prevalence of understudied diseases in women, misattribution of symptoms to psychogenic causes, communication differences, normalization of female pain, and misconceptions about pain tolerance. / Urban Bioethics

Underrepresentation of women and minorities in the science, technology, and engineering (STEM) fields is a perennial concern for researchers and policy-makers. Many causes of this problem have been identified. Less is known about what constitutes effective methods for increasing women’s participation in STEM. This study examines the role that identity formation plays in encouraging girls to pursue STEM education and careers utilizing data from a cohort-based, informal science enrichment program that targets middle-school-aged girls. A Mixed-methods design was employed to examine girls’ science interests, efficacy, attitudes, and identity—referred to as affinities. Quantitative data were collected before and after program participation using science affinity scales. Qualitative data included observations, focus groups, and individual interviews. This study builds on past research conducted on the same program. The study is presented in three components: fidelity of implementation, participant affinities, and science identity theory building. Quantitative and qualitative measures reveal that the program was implemented with high fidelity. Participants had high initial affinities for science as compared to a contrast group. Analysis of qualitative data of science affinities revealed several themes in girls’ attitudes, experiences, and intentions toward science. Emergent themes discussed include girls’ preferences and interests in science, gender and science efficacy, attitudes toward science, and elements of science identities. Archetypes of emergent science identities developed in this study (expert, experimenter, and inventor) inform different ways in which girls engage with and envision science study and careers. Implications for best practice in fostering science engagement and identities in middle-school-aged girls include the importance of hands-on science activities, the need for enthusiastic relatable role models, and an emphasis on deep understanding of scientific principles.

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Of the 2,858 licensed competitive road cyclists in Texas, female cyclists only account for 12%. The gender disparity in participation numbers suggests possible underlying barriers to entry, recruitment, and retention of female athletes compared to that of male cyclists. The current study sought to understand such issues by exploring the entirety of the competitive road cycling experience of female cyclists in Texas. To accomplish such a task, the current study utilized a mixed methods design consisting of content analysis, interviews, and an online survey. Integrating methods allowed for a more comprehensive understanding of the individual as impacted by structural, socio- cultural, and individual factors and further reveals how such factors are interrelated and mutually reinforcing. Results revealed how socio-culturally informed gendered attitudes and norms heavily impact structural policies, rules, and regulations within competitive cycling. Subsequently, structural factors influenced individual choices, attitudes, and behaviors. Further, results emphasized that individuals are complex beings, and although shaped by their environment, embody personal agency, resistance, and coping. Individual decisions, attitudes, and desires subsequently shaped socio-cultural norms and structural processes. Finally, structural reform strategies are suggested to help increase female participation and retention rates within competitive road cycling in Texas. / text

Chronic pain is a common and costly health condition for children. Previous studies have documented racial and gender disparities in pain care for adults, with women and racial minorities receiving poorer pain assessment and treatment. Providers contribute to these disparities when their pain-related decision-making systematically varies across patient demographic groups. Little is known about racial and gender disparities in children with chronic pain, or the extent to which providers contribute to these disparities. In a sample of 129 medical students (henceforth referred to as ‘providers’), Virtual Human (VH) methodology and a pain-related version of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) were used to assess the effects of patient race/gender and provider implicit racial/gender attitudes on providers’ pain assessment and treatment decisions for children with chronic pain. Findings indicated that, in the context of abdominal pain, providers rated Black patients as more distressed (mean difference [MD]=2.33, p<.01, SE=.71, 95% CI=.92, 3.73) and as experiencing more pain-related interference in daily activities (MD=3.14, p<.01, SE=.76, 95% CI=1.63, 4.64) compared to White patients. Providers were also more likely to recommended opioids for Black patients’ pain compared to White patients (MD=2.41, p<.01, SE=.58, 95% CI=1.05, 3.76). Female patients were also perceived to be more distressed by their pain (MD=2.14, p<.01, SE=.79, 95% CI=.58, 3.70), however they there were no differences in treatment recommendations based on patient gender (all ps>.05). The sample reported implicit attitudes that men and Black Americans were more pain-tolerant than their demographic counterparts; however, pain assessment and treatment decisions were not related to these implicit attitudes. This study represents a critical step in research on pain-related disparities in pediatric pain. Future studies are needed to further elucidate specific paths through which the pain experience and consequent treatment differ across racial and gender groups.<br>

LaRossa, Jaret, Gadgil, and Wynn (2000, 2001) conducted a content analysis of 495 comic strips published on Father’s Day and Mother’s Day in the United States from 1945 to 1999 in order to determine whether the culture of fatherhood and gender disparities in the media had changed over the past half-century. Drawing on their research, I conducted a similar kind of analysis of 246 comic strips published on Father’s Day and Mother’s Day in Japan from 1950 to 2004. By comparing and contrasting the results in the two studies, I show how comic portrayals of families have changed in Japan and in the United States, and demonstrate the value of analyzing comic strips in cross-national research.

The lack of sociological research on adult/child stratification in children’s books and the impacts books make in the lives of children and adults, especially in regards to socialization, are important reasons to investigate this medium. Through a conflict and feminist perspective, as well as utilizing a cultural diamond framework, this research examines the representations of power disparities between adults and children, and the structures of childrearing within the cultural object of 64 bestselling children’s picture books from 1993 to 2008. I employed content analysis to evaluate appearances of gender, age, race, parental behaviors, and childrearing structures. My findings demonstrate that gender and age disparities prevail, non-white main characters remain invisible, males as main adult characters exhibit higher rates of parental behaviors, and concerted cultivation child rearing structure is present in illustrations. Future research should focus on other aspects of the cultural diamond to gain deeper knowledge of cultural meanings.

LaRossa, Jaret, Gadgil, and Wynn (2000, 2001) conducted a content analysis of 495 comic strips published on Father’s Day and Mother’s Day in the United States from 1945 to 1999 in order to determine whether the culture of fatherhood and gender disparities in the media had changed over the past half-century. Drawing on their research, I conducted a similar kind of analysis of 246 comic strips published on Father’s Day and Mother’s Day in Japan from 1950 to 2004. By comparing and contrasting the results in the two studies, I show how comic portrayals of families have changed in Japan and in the United States, and demonstrate the value of analyzing comic strips in cross-national research.