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Recent research investigating social risk factors of depression has found evidence for a social contagion effect. The research comes from a surge in popularity of using social network analyses to examine the spread of various health outcomes such as obesity, smoking, substance use, and sleep. Although the finding of depressive contagion represents a significant contribution to the literature on the social etiology of depression, this is only the first step in providing meaningful research useful for the practical application of curbing the growing rates of depression especially among adolescents. Rather than simply acknowledging the existence of contagion effects, researchers must begin to answer the question of whether certain individuals or environments are more susceptible to the effects of depressive contagion. As a result, this dissertation applies a differential susceptibility model to examine three moderators of depressive contagion: social network structure, racial/ethnic identity, and genotypic variation in the serotonin transporter (SLC6A4) gene. The research in this dissertation uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). First, the results reveal that adolescents who are popular and/or embedded in dense peer networks are more susceptible to depressive contagion. Additionally, depressive contagion is more salient in schools characterized by dense social networks and high reciprocity in social ties. Second, racial homophily plays an important role in the effect of depressive contagion. Adolescents embedded in racially homophilous peer networks are more susceptible to depressive contagion. Further analysis shows that this effect applies primarily for Asians and Hispanics. Finally, results indicate a significant gene-environment interaction (GxE) effect between a polymorphism in the serotonin transporter system (5-HTTLPR) and depressive contagion. Adolescents carrying one or two short alleles in the 5-HTTLPR are more susceptible to depressive contagion.

I explore the relationship between family changes and social capital in American society. Since the mid-20th century, new types of and additions to the family structure have emerged, including cohabitation family, single-parent family, employed women, and NEETs (Not in Education, Employment, and Training). Although new types of families symbolize a more flexible definition of family, some problems have emerged which are worthy of studying. In fact, these families have recently become a primary focus of study in academia, but their social lives are rarely mentioned. I argue in my dissertation that these new types of arrangements not only changed how we define family, but also brought about changes in how we are involved in society. Members of these new types of families have difficulty accumulating social capital due to some unique conditions which stem from these family types. The unstable relationship between cohabitating couples, the scarcity of family resources in single-parent families, the heavy burdens for employed wives, and the indifferent attitudes among non-employed young people may explain why they have less social capital. The results indicated a complicated relationship between family changes and social capital. In general, family changes negatively affected social capital acquisition to some degree. However, different family changes may make different impacts on social capital. It is my hope that my research will encourage social scientists to seriously (re)examine the social life of people involved in these new types of families.

This study examines interview data gathered a decade apart, in 2003 and in 2014.The analysis answers the questions: "How were café patrons using the Internet in 2003 and how do the 2003 findings of this study compare to the findings of other studies conducted around the same time?" "How has Internet usage changed between 2003 and 2014?" "How has the Internet café business changed over the last decade?" This study starts by reviewing the theory and literature which informs studies of the Internet and Internet cafés in developing countries. Two years were spent discovering the fate of the 2003 locations. The data that were used for analysis were gathered at these locations, or their "walking distance equivalents," using ethnographic interviews. An argument is made that the Internet can either be a Black-box or a Quasi-actant in an Actor-network account, depending on how the subject frames its influence. The study then compares the findings from 2003 to the findings presented in Invisible Users, another study of Ghana's Internet cafés conducted in 2005(Burrell 2011).This study makes the argument that Invisible Users were only one of many different types of café users. It is also argued that pornography played a multi-faceted role in the narratives of café patrons. Differences and similarities in both patron usage and the café business itself, between 2003 and 2014 are discussed Finally, this study concludes by presenting an actor-network description of the flow of action for both the café business and café patrons by using the first three "uncertainties" identified in Reassembling the Social (Latour 2007).

<p> This dissertation is about the stories people tell about animals when they don&rsquo;t do what they are expected to do in contemporary social life. More specifically, it examines three case studies where &ldquo;wild&rdquo; animals unexpectedly challenge, transgress, or blur socially defined boundaries in public spaces. Drawing on cultural and interactionist studies of animals and environment, I explore popular animal stories written in news media, social media, and enacted <i>in</i> situ. Each qualitative case study illustrates a moment in time/space where the surprising movements or presence of wild animals causes the cultural categories of wildness/order to breakdown and destabilize. These &ldquo;surface breaks&rdquo; of social expectations provide an occasion to tell &ldquo;animal stories&rdquo;. Animal stories help people explain how the lives of animals can be allegorical strategies modern people use to communicate and enact moral lessons about the social world.</p><p> In the first chapter, I analyze news stories that emerged after Terry Thompson, an eccentric and estranged war veteran, released 54 exotic animals from his private 73-acre farm near Zanesville, Ohio. I suggest that when <i> wild</i> things challenge our taken-for-granted reality, people turn to mythical stories of fantasy to distract themselves from the more obvious social issues at hand. In the second chapter, I reconstruct the story of one feral Rhesus Macaque monkey whose adventure through Tampa Bay inspired extensive reporting in both social media and traditional news media. I suggest that the monkey&rsquo;s story was akin to a mythical tale of American heroism. As an emblem of &ldquo;good ol&rsquo; American Freedom&rdquo;, his glorified feats of escape inspired a monkey loving populace to elevate his status to a celebrity-hero, with big government as the evil villain hunting him down. In this way, public debate surrounding the monkey&rsquo;s life story beckons us to reflect on the role of liberty and repression in American discourse. Lastly, in the third chapter, I draw on ethnographic field notes to show how animals are understood and talked about by visitors in a Manatee Viewing Center in central Florida. I examine how animals challenge social expectations in everyday life situations, and how these breaches lead to situational storytelling and coordinated social activity. I suggest that animals can become messengers of a sacred nature, which is celebrated in the social performance of wildlife viewing.</p><p> In conclusion, I follow Levi-Strauss (1966) to argue that animals are &ldquo;good to think with&rdquo; because they provide people with an &ldquo;animal mirror&rdquo; to look at themselves (Haraway 2008). Furthermore, I indicate that hidden meanings in animal stories inform how people think, feel, and act towards animals in different social contexts, and are thereby reinforced through cultural, institutional, organizational, and personal practices. Animal stories have <i>power</i> because they are often translated into modes of activity and used to realize people&rsquo;s hopes and fears. In other words, animal stories are alternative forms of wildlife management that act to segregate animals from particular social activities, and designate them to appropriate places in society. Findings from this dissertation are not limited to animals, and may be applied to various cultural logics and socially defined boundaries.</p>

In this dissertation, I trace the biographical pathways of activists mobilizing to make Christian colleges and universities more inclusive of LGBTQ students. Drawing on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 65 LGBTQ student activists at four Christian universities which were selected on the basis of a quantitative analysis of all Christian universities in the U.S. I first identify multiple pathways that students follow into LGBTQ groups. I show that while students with highly politicized identities seem to have been raised as activists, students with salient religious and sexual identities often join these groups after undergoing intensive re-socialization. Second, I show that participants commit to LGBTQ groups when they perceive a fit between their identities and the types of LGBTQ groups available to them, including direct action, educational, and solidarity groups. Finally, I show that participants pursue a range of post-graduation pathways that resonate with their identities, from political campaigns to humanistic careers to intentional relationships. The findings extend existing theories of activist group participation by challenging assumptions about the characteristics of activists, the purpose of activist groups, and ultimately the nature of activism itself.