Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Previous research on group cohesion has treated it as an independent variable. This study set out to determine whether group cohesion could be predicted as the dependent variable. A total of 43 groups (474 undergraduate students) enrolled in an introduction to communication studies course completed a group project that accounted for more than 20 percent of their grade. After completing the group project, they filled out ratings of themselves and the other group members as well as 23 items on group functioning. Exploratory factor, confirmatory factor, and path analyses created a path model showing the relationships among how group members rated each other, were rated by other group members, individual-level input satisfaction, group-level input satisfaction, and cohesion. Conclusions from this research were that cohesion can be predicted as the dependent variable, and students who work and those who social loaf or freeload know who they are and include that in their ratings.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Using content analysis, this research evaluated the accuracy and accountability of the Entertainment Software Review Board’s (ESRB’s) video game rating system. With a sample of the 20 most popular videogames from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft this research compared the content observed in games with content descriptors found on video game packaging. Characters found in the games were also analyzed to determine whether or not their appearance, behavior or experiences were accurately represented in the games. Key findings suggest that the ESRB does not always accurately indicate when there are depictions of violence, sex, substance abuse, or profanity in language or music

Supporting Publications:
Supporting Document

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRA, or welfare reform) not only established work and work training requirements for welfare recipients but also provided bonuses to states that successfully reduced abortion rates and nonmarital birth rates, in combination. The gendered components of the work requirement regulations have been extensively studied, but far less attention has been paid to the state bonus provisions or their implications. This paper explores abortion and nonmarital birth rates in the era beyond welfare reform. Prior to the enactment of PRA, abortion rates were declining but marital births were increasing among women in the U.S. generally. Ordinary least squares regressions show little, if any, impact of welfare reform on abortion rates, which are largely a function of local availability of welfare providers. Some state-level policies are associated with reductions in nonmarital birth rates, but effects are limited and not nearly as extensive in scope as those envisioned in the discourse surround welfare reform.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Elderly Americans commit suicide at higher rates than other age groups. We contend that macro- and micro-social variables contribute distinct aspects to explanations of this tragic loss: the former focus on circumstances that affect overall rates, the latter reveal why certain individuals succumb to suicide. Our analysis focuses on the macro-social end of a causal sequence including variables at both levels. We describe how elderly suicide rates vary among states, show that macro-social indicators of social integration contribute to cross-state variation in elderly suicide rates, and explain how selected aspects of state-level public policy contribute to reducing elderly suicide rates.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: A strong dollar inspired widespread political mobilization among disadvantaged labor and industry groups in the mid-1980s, but these same groups remained relatively silent when the dollar appreciated sharply again in the late 1990s. The literature on the domestic politics of exchange rates is ill-equipped to explain this variation in political activity, as it tends to conceive of interest group mobilization on exchange rates as an either/or proposition. One group of scholars sees interest groups as intimately involved in exchange rate policymaking, whereas another group emphasizes the collective action problems interest groups face in mobilizing on exchange rates. The conditions leading to interest group mobilization on exchange rates are varied, but the factor that has the most traction in explaining this particular puzzle is the recent proliferation of financial instruments designed to help a firm hedge its foreign exchange risk. Financial hedging dampens the distributional impact of exchange rates, which explains why many firms did not invest the resources necessary to mobilize against the strong dollar in the 1990s as they did in the 1980s. This hypothesis is tested empirically by looking at how the relationship between the value of the dollar and US exports has changed over time. The findings provide preliminary support that exchange rates are less of a driver of firm competitiveness than in decades past. Further work remains to ascertain the robustness of these findings and to confirm through firm interviews the changing intensity of preferences on exchange rates.