Leonard Beeghley

The Influence of Religion on Attitudes toward Nonmarital Sexuality: A Preliminary Assessment of Reference Group Theory*

Prior research on the relationship between religion and/or religiosity and nonmarital sexuality (i.e., premarital, extramarital, and homosexual relations) has found an inverse relationship with enough consistency to qualify as an empirical generalization. However, while parsimonious, such a generalization is overly simplistic. Moreover, the research findings on which this generalization is based were biased by specification errors due to the employment of a theoretically inappropriate functional form. In this paper, we propose models, derived from reference group theory, which stress an interactive influence of both religion and religiosity on sexual attitudes, rather than the simple bivariate linear effects common in earlier studies. These models were assessed with data from the NORC General Social Surveys. Our findings, obtained from logistic regression analyses, support our theoretical models: The effects of religiosity on nonmarital sexuality vary predictably by religious affiliation.

Religiosity and alcohol behavior: An exploration of reference group theory

This study examines the relationship between religiosity and alcohol use and perceived misuse. Unlike most past research, we focus on adults rather than adolescents and distinguish among specific Protestant denominations. We also use a more appropriate statistical technique and place the findings in a theoretical context. The analysis shows that religiosity is clearly related to alcohol use, mainly because peoples religion serves as a reference group influencing their behavior. The analysis also shows that religiosity is not related to perceived misuse of alcohol, mainly because societal norms are congruent with religious norms and, hence, appear to overwhelm any effect of religion.

RELIGIOSITY, SOCIAL CLASS, AND ALCOHOL USE: An Application of Reference Group Theory

This paper illustrates how religiosity influences behavior in everyday life by investigating the linkages among religiosity, social class, and alcohol consumption. Reference group theory provides a theoretical basis for understanding these linkages.

Religious Change and Alcohol Use: An Application of Reference Group and Socialization Theory

This paper illustrates how religiosity influences behavior in everyday life by investigating the link between religious change and alcohol consumption. Reference group and socialization theory provide theoretical grounds for understanding this relationship.

The Influence of Religious Stability and Homogamy on the Relationship between Religiosity and Alcohol Use among Protestants

The influence of religion on alcohol use is now a well-studied phenomenon. Past research has shown that religiosity is inversely related to use, and that the strength of this relationship varies across faith groups in a manner consistent with their theological postures. In this study, we have extended the examination of the effect of faith groups on alcohol use by looking at the joint influence of religious stability and homogamy. Using data from the NORC General Social Surveys, we found that t,he strength of the religiosity-alcohol use relationship varies predictably across childhood religion, respondents current affiliation, and spouses current affiliation.

Individual and structural explanations of poverty

This article illustrates the difference between individual and structural accounts of poverty in the U.S. Some of the correlates of poverty among individuals are job loss, low skills, female family head, discrimination against blacks and hispanics, family size, and age at marriage. The structural factors producing a high rate of poverty are the reproduction of the class system, macroeconomic policies, the vicious circle of poverty, the structure of the electoral process, the structure of the economy, institutionalized gender discrimination, and institutionalized ethnic discrimination. Thus, the variables accounting for each phenomenon are different. A theoretical rationale for the relationship between social structure and rates of events is presented, and similarities between the approach used here and research in other disciplines are noted.

The Process of Class Identification among Employed Married Women: A Replication and Reanalysis

Until recently, the study of stratification dealt mainly with social processes among men. Recent research on class identification has focused on women, with varying results. This paper replicates two conflicting studies of class identification among married women. It is found that: (1) an employed married woman uses a combination of her own, her husbands and her fathers characteristics in assessing her own status;

Class Identification and Gender Role Norms among Employed Married Women.

The status-borrowing hypothesis asserts that when determining their class identification employed married women consider only their husbands characteristics while the status-sharing hypothesis argues that they consider both their own and their husbands characteristics. Both previous research and empirical data from the general Social Survey from 1974 to 1986 provide contradictory results 1st supporting 1 and then the other hypothesis. The author suggest how to resolve this issue by distinguishing between traditional and egalitarian gender role norms. Employed married women who believe in traditional gender role norms consider only their husbands characteristics in deciding upon their own class identification. In contrast employed married women who believe in egalitarian gender roles norms consider both their own and their husbands characteristics. (authors)

Illusion and Reality in the Measurement of Poverty

This paper analyzes the argument that in-kind public assistance benefits reduce the level of poverty. I show that the poverty line in the United States is a subjective and nonscientific attempt to count the number of poor people. Then I demonstrate that the poverty line is an absolute and realistic measure of improverishment. Against this backdrop, I evaluate the poverty reduction literature and show that it (1) misunderstands the nature of public assistance; (2) counts income twice; (3) produces unrealistic and illogical results; and (4) uses two different definitions of income.

GENDER AND MEDICAL INSURANCE: A Test of Human Capital Theory

This research investigates gender differences in employer-sponsored medical insurance coverage among full-time male and female workers in the United States and assesses the relevance of human capital theory and its compensating differentials corollary in predicting coverage. Data are analyzed from a subsample of the Quality of Employment Survey, a national probability sample of workers in the United States. Results indicate that men were more likely to have medical insurance coverage from their employers than were women; however, gender differences were minimized in a multivariate context when human capital and structural variables were controlled. Furthermore, human capital variables are, overall, weak predictors of whether both women and men received coverage. More generally, the data suggest that structural conditions of the occupation, rather than individual human capital, may be most relevant for future research.