Browsing by Author "Haas, Linda L."

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    Thou Shalt Not: Experiences of Contraceptive Use and Religious Identity Negotiation Among Married Catholic Women
    (2015) McCaslin, Brianna Jean; Foote, Carrie Elizabeth; Hensel, Devon J.; Haas, Linda L.
    The Catholic Church is widely known for its opposition to birth control. Yet statistics show that the vast majority of American Catholics use birth control. While multiple studies have been conducted on a larger quantitative scale about the use or attitudes of American Catholics toward birth control, there have not been qualitative studies to understand the experiences of Catholics who use contraception. This study is particularly timely given the recent Catholic opposition to the Affordable Care Act’s mandate of employee healthcare provided birth control as well as, the extraordinary synod of bishops to discuss pastoral challenges to family life in October 2015. Fourteen married Catholic women were interviewed about their religious identities and experiences using contraception. Analysis demonstrated how these women constructed a religious identity by maximizing certain aspects, such as prayer and service, while minimizing other aspects, such as individual autonomy and denominational distinctions, of their religious identity. However in order to cope with the tension between their salient religious identity and their contraceptive decision making women utilizing multiple mechanisms. Specifically, they made boundaries around which types of contraception were acceptable and limits to church or individual authority; they justified their decisions based on medical necessity or betrayal they felt from the church; they legitimated their decisions by discussing God’s control and their husband’s perceptions of NFP; and they normalized their decisions through their desire to care for their children and be sexually intimate with their husbands. This research illuminates unique challenges that religious women face in their sexual decision making and sexual health practices that can help sex educators and health care providers care for women. Additionally, the Catholic Church and American Catholics make up huge forces in education, health care, charity, politics, and employment. However, not all Catholics follow the rules of the church. Those members who remain an active part of the Catholic Church, such as the practicing Catholics in this study can influence the way the church changes. By better understanding the experience of these dissenters, social researchers may be able to better understand the future of the Catholic Church.
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    Work-Family Conflict and Gender Equality: Theory Development, Responses of Policy Regimes, and Immigrants' Experiences
    (2019-08) Lin, I-Hsuan; Adamek, Margaret E.; Duggan, Lynn; Haas, Linda L.; Lay, Kathy
    Working parents across countries perceive increased work-family conflict. Workfamily conflict not only has detrimental effect on the well-being of individuals, families, and organizations, but also contributes to gender inequality and care crisis in society. This dissertation consists of three studies that examine work-family conflict in terms of theory, policy, and understudied populations. The first study examined theories of workfamily conflict through critical realism and gender lenses. Based on an in-depth critique of current theoretical and empirical evidence, an integrated-theoretical framework informed by role theory, gendered organization theory, and the ecology of the gendered life course approach was developed. The second study comparatively ranked OECD countries’ statutory policies of parental leave, early childhood education and care, and flexible work arrangements, in terms of their levels of supportiveness and gender equality based on the Supportiveness Index and Gender Equality Index. Among 33 countries, Sweden ranks 1st based on both indices, while the United States ranks 30th for Supportiveness and 29th for Gender Equality. Mexico, Switzerland, and Turkey rank last for both indices. A new typology of four policy regimes was further constructed based on a care-employment analytic framework using secondary qualitative and quantitative data. This new set of regime types represents countries’ varied abilities to help parents reconcile work and family demands, while promoting gender equality. The third study is a systematic review of immigrants’ experiences of work-family conflict in the U.S. Four categories of factors associated with immigrants’ work-family conflict were identified: 1) work-domain factors, 2) family-domain factors, 3) health outcomes, and 4) immigration, acculturation, and gender roles. Job demands are positively associated with work-family conflict, while having job control and job support are negatively associated with work-family conflict. More domestic work demands and economic responsibilities in the family domain have contributed to work-family conflict, whereas having domestic support for childcare and housework has mitigated it. Workfamily conflict has contributed to deteriorating physical and mental health outcomes among immigrants. Finally, this study revealed that immigration per se has uniquely shaped immigrants’ work-family interactions. Social work implications of the three studies were discussed to better address work-family conflict and related gender inequality.