Parental Involvement: Perceptions of Stay-at-Home Fathers

The purpose of this study was to explore how men and women differ in essentialist perceptions of gender roles and gender ideologies as they relate to attitudes about father involvement and stay-at-home fathers. There were a total of 442 undergraduate students who completed an online survey. Results indicated that there was a significant gender difference regarding perceptions of stay-at-home fathers’ masculinity, t (433) = 5.68, p = .000, with men perceiving stay-at-home fathers as more feminine (M = 3.12) than women (M=2.51). Also a significant difference was found between men and women concerning gender ideologies, t (435) = 5.53, p = .000 with men reporting more traditional gender ideologies (M = 2.45) than women perceived stay-at-home fathers to be (M = 2.11). There was also a significant negative correlation found between the belief in traditional gender roles and father involvement, r (436) = -.10, p = 0.34. As the belief in traditional gender roles increases father involvement decreases. With regards to essentialist perceptions there was no significant gender difference found. These findings illustrate that many factors can influence ones attitudes and perceptions of father involvement and stay-at-home fathers. However, addressing common gender role stereotypes may help increase father involvement in childcare

Schooling in Mexico: An Evaluation of Private Costs as a Determinant of Household Demand for Education, and the Benefits of a Free Textbook Program

While the literature discussing public funding of education and the associated costs is extensive, studies that examine household, or private, costs for education are scarce. I use data from the 2005 Mexican Family Life Survey first to examine the nature of these private costs for Mexican families and second to determine to what extent direct schooling costs incurred by households are significant factors in enrollment decisions for primary and secondary school students. I find that, while small, direct costs are consistently significant determinants of school enrollment. Students age 13 to 15 are more sensitive to these direct costs than are their younger peers. Other opportunity cost and household factors, such as child employment and parents education level, are also statistically significant determinants of enrollment. Given the significance of direct costs on enrollment decisions, I examine one of Mexico\u27s public education programs, its National Free Textbook Commission (CONALITEG), in order to determine if it is a sound use of public funds. Using a cost-benefit analysis, I conclude that CONALITEG is in fact a good use of funds that targets a demonstrable obstacle to school enrollment

“I feel like I’m going extinct”: Conversations about the Confederacy in South Central Virginia

Summer 2015 was a time of renewed attention to the persistence and prominence of the Confederate (or rebel) flag in the southern United States. As national attention to the flag increased, I was undertaking eight weeks of preliminary fieldwork in a Virginia town named for general JEB Stuart. This paper examines the conversations surrounding the flag and other Confederate symbols that took place in person and in an online group for county residents. In it, I examine how flag supporters draw on their feelings of cultural and economic marginalization to resist the flag’s removal. While racism undergirds some of the arguments, I aim to open a conversation about how the flag is symbolically linked to old-fashioned ways of life—and its removal conflated with a threat to that way of life. For scholars and activists in favor of the flag’s removal, this work questions if and how we can remove an oppressive symbol without exacerbating some rural southerners’ sense of marginalization

Connexin-43 and Traumatic Brain Injury: A potential target for therapeutic intervention

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a widespread, degenerative affliction with no current therapeutic interventions. The long-term degradation caused by TBI results from secondary injury cascades that are initiated by primary injury. An early and important step in the damage process is reactive astrogliosis in astrocytes. Astrocytes communicate through gap junctions, which are composed of two connexon hemichannels from the two communicating cells and these connexons themselves are composed of six connexin protein subunits. Connexin 43 (Cx43) is a particularly important connexin to gap junctional communication and could act either to preserve the astrocytes from oxidative stress, or to propagate the damage signals to otherwise healthy cells. The present study investigates the expression of Cx43 in different treatment types in hippocampal samples of Wistar rats in order to elucidate the relationship between Cx43 and secondary injury through Real-Time PCR (qPCR) and cell culture work. While Cx43 has a trend for increased expression in traumatized tissue that is returned to normal levels with an antioxidant treatment, these results are not statistically significant according to a single- sided ANOVA test. Further research is needed to understand the relationship between Cx43 and secondary injury

Rind and Sweetness

Collection of poetry.Bachelor of Art