,br> Small compared to other Big10 sociology programs (16 faculty), students engage with research focused on solving real-world problems. Faculty collaborate with each other and with people across disciplines, including computer science, psychology, anthropology, political science, criminology, biology, neuroscience, medicine, public health, art, marketing, and business. Our faculty also work with community stakeholders and community-based non-profit organizations.
These collaborations lead our faculty and students to ask and answer interesting questions. Check out our recent research, including open-access versions of faculty and student publications, to discover how sociology faculty are tackling issues in drug use; pornography addiction; social networks; homelessness; delinquency; domestic violence; survey questionnaire design and polling; minority health disparities; science identity; sexualities and LGBTQ+ rights; religion and politics; hate crime reporting; and sociology pedagogy among many others.
We are committed to equipping undergraduate students with the critical thinking and analytical skills that put them on the path to meaningful and rewarding careers. Alumni have launched their careers with community organizations such as Voice of Hope, Community Learning Centers, and Teach for America; government agencies like the Department of Agriculture, the state legislature, and law enforcement; and private sector businesses such as HUDL, Talent+, Gallup, NelNet, and insurance companies. Our undergraduate students also go on to law school, medical school and professional programs in the health fields, or to complete an MBA or graduate programs in sociology or related disciplines.
Our MA and PhD students can specialize in the sociology of health, families, social inequalities, or research methodology, benefiting from a small student-to-faculty ratio. We train graduate students for both traditional academic jobs at colleges and universities, as well as work in the public and private sector. We have a long tradition of training students for successful placements at non-academic positions, including think tanks, research organizations, government agencies, non-profit service organizations, and for-profit organizations.
2018
Tick–tock goes the croc: a high-density EEG study of risk-reactivity and binge-drinking, John E. Kiat and Jacob E. Cheadle
Memory Gaps in the American Time Use Survey. Investigating the Role of Retrieval Cues and Respondents’ Level of Effort, Antje Kirchner, Ana Lucía Córdova-Cazar, Robert F. Belli, and Robert F. Belli
Social Support Theory, Lisa Kort-Butler
Framing and Cultivating the Story of Crime: The Effects of Media Use, Victimization, and Social Networks on Attitudes About Crime, Lisa Kort-Butler and Patrick Habecker
Public support for the death penalty in a red state: The distrustful, the angry, and the unsure, Lisa Kort-Butler and Colleen M. Ray
Examining the Effects of a Service-Trained Facility Dog on Stress in Children Undergoing Forensic Interview for Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse, Cheryl A. Krause-Parello, Michele Thames, Colleen M. Ray, and John Kolassa
A method for assessing the success and failure of community-level interventions in the presence of network diffusion, social reinforcement, and related social effects, Hsuan-Wei Lee, G. Robin Gauthier, Jerreed D. Ivanich, Lisa Wexler, Bilal Khan, and Kirk Dombrowski
“Just because a doctor says something, doesn’t mean that [it] will happen”: Self-perception as having a Fertility Problem among Infertility Patients, Ophra Leyser-Whalen, Arthur L. Greil, Julia McQuillan, and Katherine M. Johnson
A Comparison of Full and Quasi Filters for Autobiographical Questions, Kristen M. Olson, Megumi Watanabe, and Jolene Smyth
Item Location, the Interviewer–Respondent Interaction, and Responses to Battery Questions in Telephone Surveys, Kristen Olson, Jolene Smyth, and Beth Cochran
The Effects of Respondent and Question Characteristics on Respondent Answering Behaviors in Telephone Interviews, Kristen Olson, Jolene Smyth, and Amanda Ganshert
Building Bigness: Reputation, Prominence, and Social Capital in Rural South India, Eleanor A. Power and Elspeth Ready
Stability and change in personal fertility ideals among US women in heterosexual relationships, Colleen M. Ray, Sela R. Harcey, Arthur L. Greil, Stacy Tiemeyer, and Julia McQuillan
Risk Factors for Forced, Incapacitated, and Coercive Sexual Victimization among Sexual Minority and Heterosexual Male and Female College Students, Colleen M. Ray, Kimberly A. Tyler, and Leslie Gordon Simons
Risk Factors for Forced, Incapacitated, and Coercive Sexual Victimization Among Sexual Minority and Heterosexual Male and Female College Students, Colleen M. Ray, Kimberly Tyler, and Leslie Gordon Simons
Sharing-based social capital associated with harvest production and wealth in the Canadian Arctic, Elspeth Ready
Cognition and Context: Rural–Urban Differences in Cognitive Aging Among Older Mexican Adults, Joseph L. Saenz, Brian Downer, Marc A. Garcia, and Rebeca Wong
The Influence of Multimorbidity on Leading Causes of Death in Older Adults With Cognitive Impairment, Nicholas K. Schiltz, David F. Warner, Jiayang Sun, Kathleen A. Smyth, Stefan Gravenstein, Kurt C. Stange, and Siran M. Koroukian
The Complexity of Family Reactions to Identity among Homeless and College Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Young Adults, Rachel M. Schmitz and Kimberly A. Tyler
Cross-national variation in the social origins and religious consequences of religious non-affiliation, Philip Schwadel
The Political Implications of Religious Non-Affiliation in Emerging Adulthood, Philip Schwadel
Evolutionary Game Theory Perspective on Dynamic Spectrum Access Etiquette, Mohammad Abu Shattal, Anna Wisniewska, Ala Al-Fuqaha, Bilal Khan, and Kirk Dombrowski
Using Ego Network Data to Inform Agent-based Models of Diffusion, Jeffrey A. Smith and Jessica Burow
The Effects of Mismatches Between Survey Question Stems and Response Options on Data Quality and Responses, Jolene Smyth and Kristen Olson
Comparing survey ranking question formats in mail surveys, Jolene Smyth, Kristen Olson, and Allison Burke
Women’s Work? The Relationship between Farmwork and Gender Self-Perception, Jolene Smyth, Alexis Swendener, and Emily Kazyak
Rural and urban injection drug use in Puerto Rico: Network implications for human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis C virus infection, Courtney Thrash, Melissa L. Welch-Lazoritz, G. Robin Gauthier, Bilal Khan, Roberto Abadie, Kirk Dombrowski, Sandra Miranda De Leon, and Yadira Rolon Colon
Why Do Cell Phone Interviews Last Longer? A Behavior Coding Perspective, Jerry Timbrook, Kristen Olson, and Jolene Smyth
Poor Parenting, Attachment Style, and Dating Violence Perpetration among College Students, Brian Ermon Tussey, Kimberly A. Tyler, and Leslie Gordon Simons
Examining the Feasibility of Ecological Momentary Assessment Using Short Message Service Surveying with Homeless Youth: Lessons Learned, Kimberly A. Tyler and Kristen Olson
Understanding the Link between Victimization and Alcohol Use among Homeless Youth Using Ecological Momentary Assessment, Kimberly A. Tyler, Kristen M. Olson, and Colleen M. Ray
Bullying at School and on the Street: Risk Factors and Outcomes Among Homeless Youth, Kimberly A. Tyler and Rachel Schmitz
Child abuse, mental health and sleeping arrangements among homeless youth: Links to physical and sexual street victimization, Kimberly A. Tyler and Rachel Schmitz
Role of Social Environmental Protective Factors on Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms among Midwestern Homeless Youth, Kimberly A. Tyler, Rachel M. Schmitz, and Colleen M. Ray
The Role of Protective Behavioral Strategies, Social Environment, and Housing Type on Heavy Drinking among College Students, Kimberly A. Tyler, Rachel M. Schmitz, Colleen M. Ray, Scott A. Adams, and Leslie Gordon Simons
Child abuse, mental health and sleeping arrangements among homeless youth: Links to physical and sexual street victimization, Kimberly Tyler and Rachel M. Schmitz
An Analysis of Interviewer Travel and Field Outcomes in Two Field Surveys, James Wagner and Kristen Olson
Adolescent Sexual Risk Taking: The Distribution of Youth Behaviors and Perceived Peer Attitudes Across Neighborhood Contexts, Tara D. Warner
A Demands and Resources Approach to Understanding Faculty Turnover Intentions Due to Work–Family Balance, Megumi Watanabe and Christina Falci
Effects of a Government-Academic Partnership: Has the NSF-Census Bureau Research Network Helped Improve the U.S. Statistical System?, Daniel H. Weinberg,; John M. Abowd; Robert F. Belli; Noel Cressie; David C. Folch; S. H. Holan; Margaret C. Levenstein; Kristen Olson; Jerome P. Reiter; Matthew D. Shapiro; Jolene Smyth; Leen-Kiat Soh; Bruce D. Spencer; Seth E. Spielman; Lars Vilhuber; and Christopher K. Wikle
Discovery Orientation, Cognitive Schemas, and Disparities in Science Identity in Early Adolescence, Patricia Wonch Hill, Julia McQuillan, Amy Spiegel, and Judy Diamond
2017
Social determinants of HIV/HCV co-infection: A case study from people who inject drugs in rural Puerto Rico, Roberto Abadie, Melissa L. Welch-Lazoritz, Bilal Khan, and Kirk Dombrowski
Public health framing and attribution: Analysis of the first lady’s remarks and news coverage on childhood obesity, Jennifer A. Andersen, Lindsey E. Wylie, and Eve M. Brank
Age, Period, and Cohort Effects on Death Penalty Attitudes in the United States, 1974–2014, Amy L. Anderson, Robert Lytle, and Philip Schwadel
Literature Review Group Exercise for Undergraduates, Brandon Bosch
Contextualizing the Relationship between Culture and Puerto Rican Health: Towards a Place-Based Framework of Minority Health Disparities, Giovani Burgos, Fernando I. Rivera, and Marc A. Garcia
Christian sex advice websites offer a peek into evangelical politics, Kelsy Burke
Using Network Sampling and Recruitment Data to Understand Social Structures Related to Community Health in a Population of People Who Inject Drugs in Rural Puerto Rico, Mayra Coronado-García, Courtney R. Thrash, Melissa L. Welch-Lazoritz, G. Robin Gauthier, Juan Carlos Reyes, Bilal Khan, and Kirk Dombrowski
Hepatitis C serosorting among people who inject drugs in rural Puerto Rico, Ian Duncan, Ric Curtis, Juan Carlos Reyes, Roberto Abadie, Bilal Khan, and Kirk Dombrowski
Needle acquisition patterns, network risk and social capital among rural PWID in Puerto Rico, Ian Duncan, Patrick Habecker, Roberto Abadie, Ric Curtis, Bilal Khan, and Kirk Dombrowski
Aging and Disability Among Hispanics in the United States: Current Knowledge and Future Directions, Marc A. Garcia, Brian Downer, Michael Crowe, and Kyriakos S. Markides
Age of Migration Life Expectancy with Functional Limitations and Morbidity among Mexican Americans, Marc A. Garcia, Luis M. Valderrama-Hinds, Chi-Tsun Chiu, Miriam S. Mutambudzi, Nai-Wei Chen, and Mukaila Raji
The Potential Scientist’s Dilemma: How the Masculine Framing of Science Shapes Friendships and Science Job Aspirations, G. Robin Gauthier, Patricia Wonch Hill, Julia McQuillan, Amy N. Spiegel, and Judy Diamond
Book Review: Some Men: Feminist Allies & the Movement to End Violence against Women, by Michael A. Messner, Max A. Greenberg, and Tal Peretz, Trenton M. Haltom
Rural and urban comparisons of polysubstance use profiles and associated injection behaviors among people who inject drugs in Puerto Rico, Dane Hautala, Roberto Abadie, Bilal Khan, and Kirk Dombrowski
The Relationship between Survival Sex and Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms in a High Risk Female Population, Jerreed Ivanich, Melissa L. Welch-Lazoritz, and Kirk Dombrowski
Examining Changes of Interview Length Over the Course of the Field Period, Antje Kirchner and Kristen Olson
Do Interviewer Postsurvey Evaluations of Respondents’ Engagement Measure Who Respondents Are or What They Do? A Behavior Coding Study, Antje Kirchner, Kristen Olson, and Jolene Smyth
Multimorbidity: constellations of conditions across subgroups of midlife and older individuals, and related Medicare expenditures, Siran M. Koroukian, Nicholas K. Schiltz, David F. Warner, Jiayang Sun, Kurt C. Strange, Charles W. Given, and Avi Dor
Head Injury and Substance Use in Young Adults, Lisa Kort-Butler
Evaluating data quality in reports of sales in a retail establishment survey, Kristen Olson, Xiaoyu Lin, and Timothy Banks
Within-Household Selection in Mail Surveys: Explicit Questions Are Better Than Cover Letter Instructions, Kristen Olson and Jolene Smyth
Bi-cultural dynamics for risk and protective factors for cardiometabolic health in an Alaska Native (Yup'ik) population, Jacques Philip, Toves K. Ryman, Scarlett E. Hopkins, Diane M. O'Brien, Andrea Bersamin, Jeremy Pomeroy, Kenneth E. Thummel, Melissa A. Austin, Bert B. Boyer, and Kirk Dombrowski
“I Wanted to Raise My Hand and Say I’m Not a Feminist”: College Men’s Use of Hybrid Masculinities to Negotiate Attachments to Feminism and Gender Studies, Rachel Schmitz and Trenton M. Haltom
Checking Privilege at the Door: Men’s Reflections on Masculinity in Women’s and Gender Studies Course, Rachel Schmitz and Emily Kazyak
LGBTQ+ Young Adults on the Street and on Campus: Identity as a Product of Social Context, Rachel M. Schmitz and Kimberly A. Tyler
The Positives and Negatives of Higher Education: How the Religious Context in Adolescence Moderates the Effects of Education on Changes in Religiosity, Philip Schwadel
The Republicanization of evangelical Protestants in the United States: An examination of the sources of political realignment, Philip Schwadel
Period and Cohort Changes in Americans’ Support for Marijuana Legalization: Convergence and Divergence across Social Groups, Philip Schwadel and Christopher G. Ellison
The Diffusion of Tolerance: Birth Cohort Changes in the Effects of Education and Income on Political Tolerance, Philip Schwadel and Christopher R. H Garneau
The Religious and Political Origins of Evangelical Protestants’ Opposition to Environmental Spending, Philip Schwadel and Erik Johnson
Responding to Infertility: Lessons From a Growing Body of Research and Suggested Guidelines for Practice, Karina M. Shreffler, Arthur L. Greil, and Julia McQuillan
Using Cell Phones for Data Collection: Benefits, Outcomes, and Intervention Possibilities with Homeless Youth, Kimberly A. Tyler and Rachel M. Schmitz
Social Factors, Alcohol Expectancy, and Drinking Behavior: A Comparison of Two College Campuses, Kimberly A. Tyler, Rachel M. Schmitz, Scott A. Adams, and Leslie Gordon Simons
The Role of Entitlement, Self-Control, and Risk Behaviors on Dating Violence Perpetration, Kimberly A. Tyler, Rachel M. Schmitz, Colleen M. Ray, and Leslie Gordon Simons
Assessing Potential Errors in Level-of-Eort Paradata using GPS Data, James Wagner, Kristen Olson, and Minako Edgar
Assessing Potential Errors in Level-of-Effort Paradata using GPS Data, James Wagner and Kristen M. Olson
Stress Exposure and Physical, Mental, and Behavioral Health among American Indian Adults with Type 2 Diabetes, Melissa L. Walls, Kelley J. Sittner Hartshorn, Benjamin D. Aronson, Angie K. Forsberg, Les B. Whitbeck, and Mustafa al'Absi
Complex multimorbidity and health outcomes in older adult cancer survivors, David F. Warner, Nicholas K. Schiltz, Kurt C. Stange, Charles W. Given, Cynthia Owusu, Nathan A. Berger, and Siran M. Koroukian
Workplace Faculty Friendships and Work-Family Culture, Megumi Watanabe and Christina Falci
Social isolation, survey nonresponse, and nonresponse bias: An empirical evaluation using social network data within an organization, Megumi Watanabe, Kristen Olson, and Christina Falci
ASPECT: A Survey to Assess Student Perspective of Engagement in an Active-Learning Classroom, Benjamin L. Wiggins, Sarah L. Eddy, Leah Wener-Fligner, Karen Freisem, Daniel Z. Grunspan, Elli J. Theobald, Jerry Timbrook, and Alison J. Crowe
Contextualization of Survey Data: What Do We Gain and Does It Matter?, Lindsay R. Wilkinson,; Kenneth F. Ferraro; and Blakelee R. Kemp
Science Possible Selves and the Desire to be a Scientist: Mindsets, Gender Bias, and Confidence during Early Adolescence, Patricia Wonch Hill, Julia McQuillan, Eli Talbert, Amy N. Spiegel, G. Robin Gauthier, and Judy Diamond
Trauma in Veterans with Substance Use Disorder: Similar Treatment Need among Urban and Rural Residents, Lance Brendan Young, Christine Timko, Kimberly A. Tyler, and Kathleen M. Grant
2016
Understanding differences in HIV/HCV prevalence according to differentiated risk behaviors in a sample of PWID in rural Puerto Rico, Roberto Abadie, Melissa L. Welch-Lazoritz, Camila Gelpi- Acosta, Juan Carlos Reyes, and Kirk Dombrowski
Predicting the Onset of Alcohol Use and the Development of Alcohol Use Disorder Among Indigenous Adolescents, Brian E. Armenta, Kelley J. Sittner, and Les B. Whitbeck
Interactive Effects within the Prototype Willingness Model: Predicting the Drinking Behavior of Indigenous Early Adolescents, Brian E. Armenta, Les B. Whitbeck, and Kari C. Gentzler
The Historical Loss Scale: Longitudinal Measurement Equivalence and Prospective Links to Anxiety Among North American Indigenous Adolescents, Brian E. Armenta, Les B. Whitbeck, and Patrick Habecker
God’s Case for Sex, Orit Avishai and Kelsy Burke
Gender in the Slasher Film Genre, Brandon Bosch
Sociology of Mass Media Syllabus, Brandon Bosch
“Why So Serious?” Threat, Authoritarianism, and Depictions of Crime, Law, and Order in Batman Films, Brandon Bosch
Christians under Covers: Evangelicals and Sexual Pleasure on the Internet, Kelsy Burke
Current Rural Drug Use in the US Midwest, Kirk Dombrowski, Devan M. Crawford, Bilal Khan, and Kimberly A. Tyler
Labrador Inuit Population Movements and Inequalities in the Land Claims Era, Kirk Dombrowski, Patrick Habecker, G. Robin Gauthier, Bilal Khan, and Joshua Moses
Relocation Redux: Labrador Inuit Population Movements and Inequalities in the Land Claims Era, Kirk Dombrowski, Patrick Habecker, G. Robin Gauthier, Bilal Khan, and Joshua Moses
Network Approaches to Substance Use and HIV/Hepatitis C Risk among Homeless Youth and Adult Women in the United States: A Review, Kirk Dombrowski, Kelley J. Sittner, Devan Crawford, Melissa L. Welch-Lazoritz, Patrick Habecker, and Bilal Khan