Who Supports Her? The Conditions of Gender Specific Voting

The purpose of this dissertation is to increase our understanding of the conditions under which Americans—and particularly men and women—vote for women candidates in primary and nonpartisan elections. I theorize that a cause for personal identification with feminism among men and women is primarily one or some combination of what I call “empathetic catalysts” which all relate to real-world, lived experiences. I argue here that there are certain intense empathy inducing events (empathetic catalysts) like formal learning, experiencing certain forms of discrimination, and having a daughter that cause a shift in identity and subsequently, increase the likelihood of voting for a woman running for political office. I use data from the American National Election Study (ANES) 2016 and 2020, the Ask Every Student (AES) survey, the Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CES) 2020, the Party at the Mailbox Study (PATM) 2020, a 2019 study run by the UCR Politics & Gender Lab, as well as original data collected via MTurk to test the relationships between these catalysts, empathy, feminist identification, and voting for women running for office. I find that these catalysts are positively related to levels of feminism and support for women candidates. However, the strength of these relationships vary by gender

Reducing mask resistance among white evangelical christians with value-consistent messages

Public health experts have advocated for wearing protective face masks to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, yet some populations are resistant. Can certain messages shift attitudes toward masks? We investigate the effect of value-consistent messages within a mask-skeptical population: White evangelicals in the United States. An experiment within a national survey of White evangelicals (n = 1,212) assigned respondents to one of three conditions: One group was given a religious message equating mask use with loving your neighbor, another was given a message by Donald Trump saying mask use is patriotic, and a control group received no message. Those exposed to the religious message were more likely to see mask use as important and were more supportive of mask mandates. Republican evangelicals exposed to the patriotism message had similar responses. These findings show that messages that align with individuals’ core values—in this case, religious tenets and patriotism—can shift certain views on mask use and government mask policies to combat COVID-19, even among a comparatively mask-resistant group

Body composition and mortality in men receiving prostate radiotherapy: A pooled analysis of NRG/RTOG 9406 and NRG/RTOG 0126

PurposeTo validate the association between body composition and mortality in men treated with radiation for localized prostate cancer (PCa). Secondarily, to integrate body composition as a factor to classify patients by risk of all-cause mortality.Materials and MethodsParticipants of NRG/Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 9406 and NRG/RTOG 0126 with archived computed tomography were included. Muscle mass and muscle density were estimated by measuring the area and attenuation of the psoas muscles on a single slice at L4–L5. Bone density was estimated by measuring the attenuation of the vertebral body at mid-L5. Survival analyses, including Cox proportional hazards models, assessed the relationship between body composition and mortality. Recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) was used to create a classification tree to classify participants by risk of death.ResultsData from 2066 men were included in this study. In the final multivariable model, psoas area, comorbidity score, baseline prostate serum antigen, and age were significantly associated with survival. The RPA yielded a classification tree with four prognostic groups determined by age, comorbidity, and psoas area. Notably, the classification among older (≥70 years) men into prognostic groups was determined by psoas area.ConclusionsThis study strongly supports that body composition is related to mortality in men with localized PCa. The inclusion of psoas area in the RPA classification tree suggests that body composition provides additive information to age and comorbidity status for mortality prediction, particularly among older men. More research is needed to determine the clinical impact of body composition on prognostic models in men with PCa.This study strongly supports that body composition is related to mortality in men with localized prostate cancer. The inclusion of psoas area in the recursive partitioning analysis classification tree suggests that body composition provides additive information to age and comorbidity status for mortality prediction, particularly among older men.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/175907/1/cncr34596_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/175907/2/cncr34596.pd