Religious Service Attendance and Volunteering: A Growth Curve Analysis

Despite methodological advances in studying the relationship between religious attendance and volunteering, its dynamic nature still needs to be elucidated. We apply growth curve modeling to examine whether trajectories of religious attendance and volunteering are related to each other over a 15-year period in a nationally representative sample from the Americans’ Changing Lives data (1986-2002). Multivariate results showed that the rates of change in religious attendance and volunteering were positively related, and excluding religious volunteering did not alter the finding. It was also found that the initial level of religious attendance was positively associated with the rate of increase in volunteer hours over the period. Mediation analyses revealed that participation in voluntary associations explained the dynamic relationships between religious attendance and volunteering. These results provide evidence that involvement in organized religion and volunteering are dual activities that change together over the adult life course

Tying Knots With Communities: Youth Involvement in Scouting and Civic Engagement in Adulthood

Using data from a nationally representative sample of American adult males (N = 2,512), this study examines (a) whether duration of membership in the Boy Scouts of America is associated with adult civic engagement and (b) whether five characteristics of positive youth development (confidence, competence, connection, character, and caring) account for the relationship between duration of Scouting membership and adult civic engagement. The results from structural equation modeling indicate that duration of participation in Scouting is positively associated with four indicators of civic engagement: community involvement, community volunteering, community activism, and environmental activism. Among the five positive characteristics, confidence and competence were found to fully mediate the effects of Scouting on all four types of civic engagement, whereas the other three only to partly mediate the effects

Final Evaluation Report: A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Effectiveness of a Responsible Fatherhood Program: The Case of TYRO Dads

Despite the growing number of responsible fatherhood programs, only a few of them have been evaluated based on a randomized controlled trial. To fill this gap in evaluation research on fatherhood programs, we conducted a single-blind, randomized, controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of an Ohio-based fatherhood program called “TYRO Dads” in improving the father-child relationship among low-income, primarily unmarried, nonresidential fathers. We collected data from 252 fathers who participated in the study at 17 research sites in eight cities in Ohio by conducting a survey three times between February 2015 and September 2016: before the intervention (pretest), immediately after the intervention (post-test), and three months after the intervention (follow-up). Study participants were randomly assigned to two groups: 137 in the intervention or treatment group who took “TYRO Dads,” a five-week fatherhood course (which consists of 10 sessions of 20 hours in total; i.e., two two-hour sessions per week) and 115 in the control group who only were offered the opportunity to attend an informational session about employment resources and other resources available to help them achieve their goals. The primary outcomes of interest include fathers’ reports of satisfaction with parenting their child and the frequency of father-child activities. Also measured were secondary outcomes of intervention: fathers’ parenting efficacy, role identity, coparenting relationship with their child’s mother, and perceived challenges in parenting

Explaining Gender Differences in Changes in Volunteering after Divorce

Although there is evidence that divorce and volunteering are related, little is known about the process by which divorce affects volunteering. Using four-wave panel data spanning 16 years, this study examines the causal mechanisms underlying changes in volunteering following divorce. Results from estimating structural equation models indicated that divorce affects volunteering through different mechanisms for women and men. For women, increased financial strain explained a decline in volunteering after divorce. For men, decreased social integration measured by formal group participation accounted for a decline in volunteering after divorce. Domain-specific analyses further showed that decreased religious attendance following divorce explained a decline in religious volunteering and, at the same time, an increase in secular volunteering among men but not women. Men appear to switch their volunteering domains from religious to secular organizations after divorce

Being Prepared and Staying Connected: Scouting’s Influence on Social Capital and Community Involvement

Objectives In recent years, scholars have become concerned about the effects that declining levels of social capital are having on community life in the United States. Data suggest that Americans are less likely to interact with neighbors and less likely to participate in community groups than they were in the past. Nevertheless, researchers have found that participation in some types of organizations has a positive impact on social capital and civic involvement. Each year, millions of American youth participate in programs designed to promote positive youth development. Here, we examine the effect that participation in one of the largest youth organizations, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), has on adult social capital and community involvement. Methods Utilizing a national survey of adult males, we compare measures of social capital and community involvement for former Scouts and non‐Scouts. Results Our findings suggest that level of involvement in the Boy Scouts is significantly related to measures of adult social capital and community engagement. Conclusion Scouting tends to have a significant impact on the lives of its most committed members. Future research must continue to explore the long‐term effects of participation in youth organizations

Structured Voluntary Youth Activities and Positive Outcomes in Adulthood: An Exploratory Study of Involvement in Scouting and Subjective Well-Being

This study explores whether youth involvement in Scouting has positive consequences later in life. We examine whether the number of years of participation in Scouting is positively associated with human and social capital and recreational lifestyles in adulthood, and whether these are linked to subjective well-being: relational, emotional, and physical health. To explore this potential relationship, we estimated a structural equation model, analyzing data from a national sample of adult males. We found that youth involvement in Scouting is positively related to subjective well-being indirectly via the positive adult outcomes

STRAIN, SOCIAL SUPPORT, AND RETREATISM AMONG AFRICAN AMERICANS

This study tests Agnew's general strain theory (GST) for African Americans, a population neglected in GST research. Specifically, we examined (a) the differential effects of inner-and outer-directed negative emotions on withdrawing behavior and (b) the conditioning effects of social support on the understudied, deviant coping behavior. OLS regression analyses of data from a national survey of African American adults provide empirical evidence that depression and anxiety have larger effects on withdrawing behavior than anger. Findings also provide some support for the hypothesis that social support tends to weaken or buffer the effects of nonangry emotions on withdrawing behavior

Fabrication of multimode polymeric waveguides and micromirrors using deep x-ray lithography

Multimode polymeric waveguides and 45° micromirrors have been fabricated using deep X-ray lithography. Polymethylmetacrylate was used as a core layer and silica and silicone elastomer as a lower and upper cladding layer, respectively. The propagation loss of the waveguide was 0.54 dB/cm at 830 nm and the loss of micromirrors was less than 0.43 dB at the wavelength. The X-ray lithography technique offers the controllability of mirror angles to 45° and -45° so that it gives flexibility to the system architecture of optical interconnections

Stacked Polymeric Multimode Waveguide Arrays for Two-Dimensional Optical Interconnects

Two-dimensional (2-D) polymeric multimode waveguide arrays with two reflection-mirrors have been fabricated for optical interconnects between 2-D arrayed vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers and detectors. Contact printing lithography was adopted for simple and low-cost process using ultraviolet-curable epoxy-based polymers. Fabricated waveguides were diced of the same size and stacked one by one with lateral positional errors less than ±20 μm. Two kinds of mirrors were fabricated: single-reflection mirror and double-reflection mirror. Double-reflected mirrors resulted in lower losses with 1.2 dB than single reflected mirrors with 2.1 dB. The average insertion losses of 16-channel arrayed waveguides with two single-reflection mirrors and with two double-reflection-mirrors were measured to be 6.1 and 4.4 dB for 6-cm-long waveguides at a wavelength of 830 nm, respectively. The crosstalk between the waveguides was less than -25 dB. The characteristics of the waveguide arrays are good enough for applications to optical interconnects.This work was supported by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy and by the BK 21 program

Religion, Delinquency, and Drug Use: A Meta-Analysis

Contemporary research on adolescent involvement in religion and delinquency is generally traced to Hirschi and Stark’s 1969 study, titled ‘‘Hellfire and Delinquency.’’ Their study surprised many by reporting no significant relationship between religious involvement and delinquency. Subsequent replications provided mixed results, but multiple reviews, both traditional and systematic, found religious involvement to be inversely related to delinquency. However, meta-analysis of the relationship remains scant with only three studies published to date. To address this research need, we conducted a meta-analysis of 62 relevant studies over four decades, which provided 145 effect sizes from 193,656 adolescents. We examined six bivariate correlations between two, attitudinal and behavioral, measures of religious involvement (religiosity and church attendance) and three indicators of delinquent behavior (alcohol use, illicit drug use, and nondrug delinquency). Our meta-analysis results indicated an inverse relationship among all correlations (range: -.16 to -.22). Stated differently, the results of this meta-analysis confirmed that religious involvement is negatively related to delinquent behaviors, regardless of measurement characteristics. The implications of this finding for future research on religion and delinquency are discussed