Context: Research is limited regarding the potential of genetic testing for cancer risk in rural Appalachia. Purpose: This study examined perceptions of genetic testing in a population sample of Kentuckians, with a focus on Appalachian and rural differences. The goals were to examine cultural and psychosocial factors that may predict intentions to…

The feasibility of employing survey data that uses the states of the United States as the societal units in macro-level sociological research was studied. The range of issues available for research opened to investigation would be greatly expanded if it were possible to aggregate national survey data to produce state-level statistics for variables…

This paper bridges two lines of research. One line shows that social relations in the southern United States are more "collectivist" than social relations in non-southern regions. The second line of work argues that collectivist social relations generate lower levels of general trust than individualist social relations. At the…

The Welfare Reform Act of 1996 generally restricted immigrants' eligibility for welfare to those who had naturalized. By increasing the salience of naturalization, the law provides a unique opportunity to examine how social and economic contexts of reception influence immigrants' pursuit of citizenship. This paper summarizes instrumental-legal…

Research on the social determinants of health has increasingly sought to understand the relative importance of different features of socioeconomic status. Much of the ensuing debate has wavered between education and income, with recent research leaning increasingly toward income. This research has not, however, consistently explored interactions…

Drawing on three leading theories of crime/deviance, a model is developed and tested to explain individual variation in the approval of suicide. Data from a national survey are used to test predictions. Predictions are partially supported. Strongest correlates of suicide approval are education, political liberalism, and certain religious…

Research has established that those with higher social status have better health. Less is known about whether this relationship differs cross-nationally and whether it operates similarly across different institutional arrangements. To examine the relationship between stratification and health, two Western, industrialized societies at opposite ends…

When survey data are statistically analyzed, many times some of the data is missing. If the missing values are not correctly handled, results of the analysis may be dubious and publication may jeopardize the credibility of the organization preparing the report. This study examined four of the more commonly used methods of handling missing data.…

Prior research has shown that individuals living in the South express significantly less tolerant attitudes than the rest of the nation, while individuals residing in urban areas express significantly more tolerant attitudes than their rural peers. The authors seek to explain these generally unspecified Southern and urban effects by identifying…

With President George W. Bush's unprecedented call in January 2006 to expand the foreign language capacity of the United States, it has become clear that languages other than English (LOE) are of great interest to public policy in the United States. Yet the language capacity of the United States remains poorly documented. The 2000 General Social…

Data from the 1972-89 Cumulative General Social Survey (1970s black male sample=556, 1980s sample=767) demonstrate much upward and downward intergenerational educational mobility for black males. The educational attainment of black males is associated with age, father's education, and the size of their place of residence at age 16. (SLD)

Data from the General Social Survey (GSS) collected in the years 1990-1996 are examined for the relationship between fertility and intelligence as measured by vocabulary. The results show that the relation between fertility and intelligence has been consistently negative for successive birth cohorts from to 1900 to 1979, indicating the presence of…

Applies the Gerbner, et al, theory of television "mainstreaming" to political orientations. Analyzes survey data to show the political attitudes of heavy, medium, and light TV viewers. Suggests new ways of thinking about television and the formation of political perspectives. (PD)

In analyses controlling for socioeconomic status (SES), parental divorce during adolescence produced few negative effects on adult adjustment, and father's death during adolescence produced none. However, SES during adolescence and current SES affected nearly all aspects of adult adjustment, as did mother's and own educational attainment. Contains…

A secondary analysis of four General Social Surveys was performed to determine television's role in reducing social differentiation in the United States. An investigation of the extent to which television is associated with reduction in geographic regional impact on social and political attitudes indicates heavy viewers have more homogeneous…