Culture

DENVER — American megachurches use stagecraft, sensory pageantry, charismatic leadership and an upbeat, unchallenging vision of Christianity to provide their congregants with a powerful emotional religious experience, according to research from the University of Washington.

Married couples who undergo long-term separations appear to be those who can't afford to divorce, a new analysis of survey results suggests. They found that about 80 percent of all respondents who went through a marital separation ultimately divorced, most within three years.

About five percent attempted to reconcile. But 15 percent of separations didn't lead to divorce or reconciliation within 10 years. Couples in these long-term separations tended to be racial and ethnic minorities, have low family income and education, and have young children.

A study by Indiana University sociologist Jessica McCrory Calarco found that working-class and middle-class parents often take very deliberate -- but different -- approaches to helping their children with their school experiences.

Working-class parents, she found, coached their children on how to avoid problems, often through finding a solution on their own and by being polite and deferential to authority figures. Middle-class parents, on the other hand, were more likely to encourage their kids to ask questions or ask for help.

New surveys show how support for a generally liked policy can be significantly lowered, simply by associating it with a group seen as "radical" or "extreme."

DENVER — New research examining relationships and the use of alcohol finds that while a long-term marriage appears to curb men's drinking, it's associated with a slightly higher level of alcohol use among women. The study, led by the University of Cincinnati (UC), will be presented at the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.

DENVER — Women playing full-contact tackle football face challenges beyond the playing field—yet there's little research about this niche in athletics. Jennifer Carter, a University of Cincinnati doctoral student in the UC Department of Sociology, will present her research on body maintenance in women's professional football at the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.

The way legislators, experts and other opinion leaders discuss the role of parents and schools in reducing educational inequalities has changed dramatically since the Elementary and Secondary Education Act first passed in 1965. Put simply, parents were viewed as part of the problem then, with schools seen as the solution. In recent years, with No Child Left Behind and more school choice options, these roles have flipped.

WASHINGTON -- Creative people are more likely to cheat than less creative people, possibly because this talent increases their ability to rationalize their actions, according to research published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

A large-scale survey of the mental condition of military personnel before, during and after their posting to Afghanistan has proved thought-provoking. In total, 746 Danish soldiers took part in the survey. The soldiers completed a questionnaire five times in all – before their posting, during their time in Afghanistan and three times after their return to Denmark.

We've all heard it: The Internet has flattened the world, allowing social networks to spring up overnight, independent of geography or socioeconomic status, blah, blah. Twitter, the social networking and microblogging site, is said to have more than 300 million users worldwide who follow, forward and respond to each other's 140-character tweets about anything and everything, 24/7.

DENVER — In a 2010 survey of laid-off workers across the United States, married moms spent more time between jobs and were overall less likely to find new jobs compared with married dads. Once re-employed, married moms experienced a decrease in earnings of $175 more per week compared with married dads.

The results suggest that the recent recession, dubbed the "man-cession" or "he-cession" because more men than women lost jobs, could also be viewed as a "mom-cession" as laid-off married moms had the hardest time finding new jobs.

Many have argued the idealized Marxist notion of a classless society died with the collapse of the Soviet Union and a faltering Cuba but a University of Dayton series of interviews has found a place where such approaches may have a shot of survival — Facebook and other social networking sites.

University of Dayton sociologist and criminologist Art Jipson discovered in his most recent surveys that the homeless, along with everyone else, are turning to social media and that social media sites are turning into places where all people are truly equal.

DENVER — New research out of the University of Cincinnati is believed to be the first to examine the relative impact of militarization and corruption on civilian populations. The findings reveal that a specific form of military organization—praetorian militarization—as well as national-level corruption—both adversely affect the well-being of citizens. The findings by Steve Carlton-Ford, a professor and head of the UC sociology department, and T.

In a 2010 survey of laid-off workers across the United States, married moms spent more time between jobs and were overall less likely to find new jobs compared with married dads. Once re-employed, married moms experienced a decrease in earnings of $175 more per week compared with married dads.

The results suggest that the recent recession, dubbed the "man-cession" or "he-cession" because more men than women lost jobs, could also be viewed as a "mom-cession" as laid-off moms had the hardest time finding new jobs.

The housing foreclosure crisis has been blamed for widespread economic and social problems in the United States, including reduced property values, depressed consumer spending and a decline in government services. Some observers speculate that it has also led to more crime in hard-hit cities.