Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2007. / Principal faculty advisor: Ronet Bachman, Dept. of Sociology & Criminal Justice. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D. (Social Work))--University of Pretoria, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Mar. 3, 2008). Directed by Saundra D. Westervelt; submitted to the Dept. of Sociology. Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-89).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1967. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Louisville, 2005. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Kentucky, 2005. / University of Louisville, Kent School of Social Work. University of Kentucky, College of Social Work. Vita. "May 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-122).

Thesis (M.A.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2009. / Directed by Sandra Westervelt; submitted to the Dept. of Sociology. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed May 6, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 184-193).

The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a better understanding of race differences in women’s family formation behaviors, including non-marital birth and marriage. This research addresses three aims using data from various sources. The first aim is to examine the demographic factors that contribute to racial differences in non-marital fertility rates. The second research aim is to investigate how black men’s incarceration (admission rate, release rate, and conditional release rate from/to prisons) is related to black women’s non-marital fertility rate at the county level from 1985 to 2000. The last research aim is to examine how men’s incarceration (admission rate, release rate, and conditional release rate from/to prisons) is associated with women’s transition to first marriage and non-marital birth, and how this association differs by women’s race. To examine the first research aim, I employed a decomposition analysis and found that sexual activity and post-conception marriage no longer contribute to racial differences in non-marital fertility. Instead, the pregnancy rate among sexually active single (not cohabiting) women is the largest contributor to race-ethnic variation in non-marital fertility rates. More importantly, I find that contraceptive use patterns explain the majority of the race-ethnic differences in pregnancy rates. To pursue the second research aim, I used a fixed effects model and found that changes in black men’s incarceration are positively associated with changes in black women’s non-marital fertility rate between 1995 and 2000, even after adjusting for an extensive set of controls. Lastly, building on this finding, I also examined the relationship between men’s incarceration and women’s transition to first marriage and non-marital birth using a discrete time hazard model. The results indicate that county-level men’s incarceration is negatively associated with women’s transition to first marriage, even net of family background, individual women’s SES, and other county characteristics. Although county-level men’s incarceration contributes to the explanation of lower rates of transition to first marriage for women, it does not fully explain racial differences in marriage. Unlike marriage, women’s transition to first non-marital birth is not significantly affected by county-level men’s incarceration, net of women’s SES and family background. Altogether, this study updated our knowledge about the relative importance of marriage to racial differences in non-marital fertility and better explained racial differences in family formation behaviors, including non-marital fertility and marriage, by linking them with men’s incarceration. / text

D. Litt. et Phil. / This study is an exploration of the experiences of crisis and identity. It looks specifically at these experiences from within the context of imprisonment from the concrete to the abstract. Imprisonment is not merely looked at from the physical point of view, but also the metaphorical. This means that the sense of imprisonment is not only limited to people who are serving out sentences imposed by the courts of law. We can all experience the sense of being imprisoned at some level or another, whether though a sense of isolation, being labelled and controlled, or experiencing restriction in various forms. The post-modern worldview that underlies this study is social constructionist theory. From this perspective, our sense of what is real is communally created within specific cultural and historical contexts. Language is used as the vehicle through which our meanings are constructed between people. The social constructionist view of people holds that we are open systems so that our sense of self is not only impacted by perturbing “others”, but is also shaped and transformed in relationship. The shaping of identity takes place through language processes and is circumscribed by particular contextual constraints. Identity is not viewed as a constant entity, but as an ever-evolving narrative (story) and a product of interaction with others in the world. Whereas the modern definition of “crisis” underscores the idea that it is, at best, “something” to be avoided, social constructionists describe it as a boundary experience that is communally constructed. Furthermore, if we draw on chaos theory, crisis can also be seen as a bifurcation point. This means that it is a moment in our experiences in which we are moved to make decisions and potentially proceed into new directions. Therefore, crisis holds transformational potential. The notion of exploring the transformative potential of crisis and the construction of identity sprung from a personal crisis experience around the discomfort of progressing into a professional identity. My practical training within the Johannesburg Female Prison provided a context fertile with stories of imprisonment, crisis and how these impact on identity construction. Therefore, the context of this study is prison, so that a discussion around constructions of criminality and its treatment is important to paint a fuller picture. These are discussed from the perspectives of modern criminology theories, as well as post-modern impressions of criminality and its treatment as embedded in historical and social contexts. Since this study underscores an intervention-action research approach, the implications of crisis as a potential catalyst for therapeutic change is also considered. The social constructionist understanding of therapeutic practice is that it is a relational process. Therapy is a co-creation between the client and therapist so that new ways of moving forward is a collective, not an individual achievement. This study, as a form of action research, was born out of a one and a half-year long therapeutic endeavour with a group of women offenders in the Johannesburg Female Prison. The theoretical principles of Appreciative Inquiry were used to guide the process of inquiry. Three levels of participants were involved in the collection of data: A diverse mix of women incarcerated in the Johannesburg Female Prison, the core group of women participating in the “Who am I?” therapeutic group, as well as myself. Information was in the form of written personal texts, interviews (conducted by the core group) and a newsletter. Thematic analysis was used to scrutinise the information and the following themes were identified: Loss and gain, power and helplessness, hope and despair, differentness and sameness as well as connection and disconnection. Typical character types (identities) and whether there were progressive, regressive or stable narrative plots (directionality of stories) were considered in the various themes as points of crisis. Finally, the findings are integrated with the theory by exploring social constructionist ideas about identity as being ever-changing, multiple and created in our togetherness. The principles of first and second order cybernetics are also used as systemic explanatory models of identity transformation and/or “stuckness”. The creation of therapeutic communities was explored as a tool to facilitate the reconstruction of crisis and the transformation of healing identities of women in prison. / Dr. C.J. Oosthuizen