Browsing by Author "Jensen, Robin E."

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    Fertility-Related Perceptions and Behaviors among Low-Income Women: Injunctive Norms, Sanctions, and the Assumption of Choice
    (2010-07) Jensen, Robin E.; Bute, Jennifer J.
    In this article we explore elements of the theory of normative social behavior (TNSB) through interviews with low-income women (N = 30) in a Midwestern U.S. state about their experiences with and perceptions of fertility-related norms. Using grounded theory and matrix analysis as analytical lenses, we found that individuals sometimes learn of injunctive norms and social sanctions separately, might be more likely to comply with a norm if they learn about norms and sanctions in concert, and might be more likely to engage in norm compliance if they learn about two different types of sanctions, short- and long-term, along with the injunctive norm. We also found that a number of important barriers can limit one’s ability to choose to comply with a norm. In conclusion, we discuss implications for continued theorizing of the TNSB in light of the experiences of traditionally marginalized populations.
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    Low-Income Women Describe Fertility-Related Expectations: Descriptive Norms, Injunctive Norms, and Behavior
    (2010-12) Bute, Jennifer J.; Jensen, Robin E.
    Social norms surrounding sexuality, pregnancy, and childbearing may help guide women's health-related behaviors. In this study, we explore low-income women's perceptions of fertility-related norms by allowing women to describe their experiences with normative expectations. Semistructured interviews (n = 30) suggested that women in low-income subject positions articulate descriptive norms that generally correspond with mainstream descriptive norms, identify two major sources of injunctive norms concerning fertility and sexuality— authoritative and peer-oriented—and often align their behaviors according to subgroup expectations communicated in the form of peer-oriented injunctive norms. We discuss these results in light of the extant literature on social norms.
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    Narrative Sense-making and Time Lapse: Interviews with Low-income Women about Sex-Education
    (2011-05) Bute, Jennifer J.; Jensen, Robin E.
    Secondary-school students in the United States score notoriously low on tests of their reproductive and sexual knowledge despite attempts by educators and legislators to provide them with informative sex-education courses. In this paper, we build from narrative theory to explore how low-income women perceived their formal sex-education experiences and how they connected those experiences to their sexual-health knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors. Drawing from interviews with 30 low-income women, we identify and develop a typology of sex-education narratives: narratives of regret, narratives of satisfaction, and narratives of uncertainty. We also investigate existing theoretical claims that lapses in time between lived events and the narration of those events connect to sensemaking efforts. We find that younger women in the sample were more likely to tell narratives of uncertainty than were older women. These results have implications for the study of narrative theory, sexual-health communication, and the discourse of public sex education.