Browsing by Author "Erving, Christy L."

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    Do Discrimination and Negative Interactions with Family Explain the Relationship between Interracial Relationship Status and Mental Disorder?
    (Sage, 2022) Irby-Shasanmi, Amy; Erving, Christy L.; Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
    Using the stress process model, the authors investigate whether individuals in interracial relationships experience greater risk for past-year mood and anxiety disorder compared with their same-race relationship counterparts. The authors also assess interracial relationship status differences in external stressors (i.e., discrimination and negative interactions with family) and whether stress exposure explains mental disorder differences between individuals in interracial versus same-race romantic partnerships. Data are from the National Survey of American Life (2001-2003). Results show that individuals in interracial relationships are at greater risk for anxiety disorder (but not mood disorder) relative to those in same-race relationships. Interracially partnered individuals also report more discrimination from the public and greater negative interactions with family. External stressors partially explain the higher risk for anxiety disorder among individuals in interracial partnerships. This study addresses a void in the literature on discrimination, family relationships, and health for the growing population of individuals in interracial unions.
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    Gender Differences in the Effects of Support Exchanges on Self-Esteem and Mastery for Mid- to Late-Life Adults
    (Taylor and Francis, 2020-08-02) Irby-Shasanmi, Amy; Erving, Christy L.; Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
    Applying social psychological theories of social exchange and gender socialization perspectives, we assess gender differences in the effects of receiving and giving social support on self-esteem and mastery (i.e., self-concept) for respondents in the United States. We also explore whether imbalances in support exchanges are beneficial or detrimental to self-concept for women (mean age = 72) and men (mean age = 73). We examine this topic using data from Mended Hearts volunteers. Methodologically, we investigate the gender patterns of self-esteem, mastery, and social support by examining common summary statistics (i.e., means, standard deviations, Cohen’s d) as well as locations and scales which attempt to account for skewness. We also compare results from bivariate correlations with regression analyses to ascertain if and when results converge. First, the means/standard deviations and locations/scales reveal different gendered patterns in self-concept and social support. Second, among women, we find a large positive effect of giving instrumental support on self-esteem in the regression analysis; on the other hand, the zero-order correlation reveals a weaker effect. For men, giving emotional support has a large positive effect on self-concept in both the bivariate and regression analysis. Third, reciprocity in instrumental support is generally beneficial for self-concept, but effects are larger for women. Fourth, imbalances in emotional support are associated with higher self-concept for women. Given the disjuncture between 1) summary statistics that do and do not take into account the skewness of the study measures and 2) correlations versus regression coefficients, our study suggests a need to critically address how methodological decisions (e.g., addressing skewness) affect results reported in social psychological studies and the conclusions drawn from them.