Laura Rodriguez Socio 111 MWF, 3:30

Based upon our discussion on 4/3/17, I'm resending my Quiz #2.

Thank You,

Laura Rodriguez

Sandy Vongthong

Sandy Vongthong 504 (words)

 

The article I read was called "Food Insecurity is Associated with Increased Risk of Obesity in California Women" by Elizabeth J. Adams, Laurence Grummer-Strawn and Gilbert Chavez. The research was conducted in 1998 and 1999 by California Women's Health Survey consisting of 8169 women the ages of 18 and above. For the research study, researchers conducted a random digit dialing phone interviews where the participants were asked a series of questions regarding income, race/ethnic city, education, country of birth, and general health status. In addition to these questions other variables included body mass index, city blocked walked, and food security or insecurity with and without hunger.

 

Important findings included:

 

·      1/5 of the 8,169 women study were obese.

 ·      31% of women who were obese was food insecure.

 ·      Food insecurity is associated with increased likelihood of obesity and risk      is greater among non-whites.

·      18.8% of women have an income below poverty line.

 ·      Overall 13.9% of women surveyed were food insecure without hunger.

 

Interesting findings about the article was the fact that obesity was associated with women consuming foods with high in calories and little nutritional value. As you have mentioned in class this type of diet is called food insecurity. For me, this was interesting as I was not aware of this being food insecure. During our group discussion, we discussed different contributions of obesity in our society. Fast food was among one of the topics that came up, and someone mentioned how it was cheap and convenient. Another classmate mentioned the media plays the role it plays in priming our brains in making decisions about food. Overall, the article was a good read and I feel as if I have gained some knowledge on the topic of food insecurity among women and the link it has with obesity.

Work Citied:

Adams, E. , Adams, . , Grummer-Strawn, L. , & Chavez, G. (2003). Food Insecurity is Associated with Increased Risk of Obesity in California Women. The Journal of Nutrition, 133(4), 1070.

For my second article, I read the article "A Decade of Change Measuring that Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity" written by Kelly Stamper Balistreri. The article discusses food insecurity among different groups such as Hispanics, Blacks, and Whites. The article compares food insecurity in our economy today to during the time of the Great Recession in 2008. According to the article there has not been much change in food security. The groups most vulnerable to food insecurity were Hispanics and Blacks. Roughly 6.9 American families are food insecure meaning they are inconsistent with foods and this partially due to their access to food and not being able to afford quality foods.

 

Methodology:

The methodology behind the research consisted of an interval study where data was recorded from Current Population Survey and Food Security Supplement. The food insecurity survey was recorded for a decade starting from 2001 to 2013 in 3 different time frames with sample size ranging from 83, 771 to 95,147 (Balistreri, 2016)

 

Results:

Families in America with children have less food security then those without children. The findings suggest that since the Great Recession, our economy has not improved much as far as food security is concerned for families with children. As a matter fact, the disproportion among food unsecured families in America has increased significantly over the years even more so than prior to the Great Recession.

Work Cited:

 Balistreri, K.S. J Fam Econ Iss (2016) 37: 373. doi:10.1007/s10834-016-9500-9

Sandy Vongthong/Soc 111 Mon &Wed

Sandy Vongthong 504 (words)

 

The article I read was called "Food Insecurity is Associated with Increased Risk of Obesity in California Women" by Elizabeth J. Adams, Laurence Grummer-Strawn and Gilbert Chavez. The research was conducted in 1998 and 1999 by California Women's Health Survey consisting of 8169 women the ages of 18 and above. For the research study, researchers conducted a random digit dialing phone interviews where the participants were asked a series of questions regarding income, race/ethnic city, education, country of birth, and general health status. In addition to these questions other variables included body mass index, city blocked walked, and food security or insecurity with and without hunger.

 

Important findings included:

 

·      1/5 of the 8,169 women study were obese.

 ·      31% of women who were obese was food insecure.

 ·      Food insecurity is associated with increased likelihood of obesity and risk      is greater among non-whites.

·      18.8% of women have an income below poverty line.

 ·      Overall 13.9% of women surveyed were food insecure without hunger.

 

Interesting findings about the article was the fact that obesity was associated with women consuming foods with high in calories and little nutritional value. As you have mentioned in class this type of diet is called food insecurity. For me, this was interesting as I was not aware of this being food insecure. During our group discussion, we discussed different contributions of obesity in our society. Fast food was among one of the topics that came up, and someone mentioned how it was cheap and convenient. Another classmate mentioned the media plays the role it plays in priming our brains in making decisions about food. Overall, the article was a good read and I feel as if I have gained some knowledge on the topic of food insecurity among women and the link it has with obesity.

Work Citied:

Adams, E. , Adams, . , Grummer-Strawn, L. , & Chavez, G. (2003). Food Insecurity is Associated with Increased Risk of Obesity in California Women. The Journal of Nutrition, 133(4), 1070.

For my second article, I read the article "A Decade of Change Measuring that Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity" written by Kelly Stamper Balistreri. The article discusses food insecurity among different groups such as Hispanics, Blacks, and Whites. The article compares food insecurity in our economy today to during the time of the Great Recession in 2008. According to the article there has not been much change in food security. The groups most vulnerable to food insecurity were Hispanics and Blacks. Roughly 6.9 American families are food insecure meaning they are inconsistent with foods and this partially due to their access to food and not being able to afford quality foods.

 

Methodology:

The methodology behind the research consisted of an interval study where data was recorded from Current Population Survey and Food Security Supplement. The food insecurity survey was recorded for a decade starting from 2001 to 2013 in 3 different time frames with sample size ranging from 83, 771 to 95,147 (Balistreri, 2016)

 

Results:

Families in America with children have less food security then those without children. The findings suggest that since the Great Recession, our economy has not improved much as far as food security is concerned for families with children. As a matter fact, the disproportion among food unsecured families in America has increased significantly over the years even more so than prior to the Great Recession.

Work Cited:

 Balistreri, K.S. J Fam Econ Iss (2016) 37: 373. doi:10.1007/s10834-016-9500-9

Health/food Quiz

Miguel Penate (497W)

Sociology Race

Professor Kubal

4/2/2017

For this Quiz the first article I chose is A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity. The article summarized the findings of past research involving race, social class and food insecurity. One of the methods used to find data was random sample surveys targeting food insecurity from 2001 to 2013. The times were used to see change from the beginning of 2001 through the great recession and post time period impacts.  The next method used was household sample checking and comparing every ones household no more than once. Another method was the food security measurement which measured the food insecurity level in each household. It also measured based upon if the household contained children or not. The questions were based on if the subjects had concerns if their food would run out, or if they had enough money to purchase more and if the children did not eat at all because there wasn't enough money. The last method was food insecurity Indies this checked the results of households that were food secure and contrasted with insecure food households.  The results showed there has been no major recovery since the recession of 2006-2008. These results also showed that the impact of the recession mostly affected the lower class whites with children, while the minority individuals with kids who were already food insecure had about the same results as before. Another great find was that individuals without children were affected more drastically with food insecurity than those with children.

The second article I chose was "Understanding Food Insecurity among Latino Immigrant Families in Rural America." This article focused on lower-class immigrant Latino families and how they were food insecure, what factors caused this and was it because of the migration.  This study was conducted sample surveys involving Latino immigrant mothers. Four states were given this survey assessing food insecurity in California, Michigan, Iowa and Michigan. Most of the immigrants in California were from second generation immigrants. In Michigan most of the immigrants were migrant workers living in Michigan for part of the year. In Iowa and Oregon the immigrants were barely settling.  Another method used was Justification of case selection which studied food security issues faced by the chosen families. This was also based on each families own life experiences. They also checked each family's demographics such as income, social, cultural and political factors. The last method was interview protocols which focused on in depth interviewing over a three year span from 2001 to 2004. This was focused on qualitative questions and answers. The results were families that were considered food insecure had common factors such as low education, a few life skills, and no community resources. Another factor for food insecurity was large households with little income. Food secure families consisted of origin of elders who owned their homes and land in Mexico. These families were also financially stable and needed little or no help at all to meet they're food needs.

Sergio Cortez

Laura Rodriguez Quiz 3

Laura Rodriguez

600 Words

 

 

            The article, "A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity," explains how the food insecurity has risen since the Great Recession of 2008 and how it hasn't changed or improved the lives of the needy. This article indicates that a high increase in food insecurity is found in the low-income households of minorities. The escalating unemployment rate and an increase of food prices are some factors leading to food insecurities. The period of the Great Recession greatly impacted the lives of minorities including Hispanics and Blacks and excluded whites.

            The data obtained for this article was gathered by the CPS, Current Population Survey. Three different time periods revolving around the recession were used. The years included, 2001-2003, 2006-2008, and 2001-2013. The Food Security Measurement was another method used, it analyzed the severity of the food insecurity using an eighteen-item scale based on whether children lived in the household. The households considered to have a very low food security ranked six or more positive answers. Households would fall under certain categories based on the answers given to the eighteen questions.  These measures gave limited results because they were only analyzed from a household perspective and not from an individual's point.

            The findings from the methods used indicated that Black households of low income with and without children have the highest disadvantage and that it's worsening. In the last ten years, Whites have had the highest increase across all the measures that were analyzed. Also, there has been an increase among households without children. This is difficult to believe, there are less mouths to feed. On behalf of the latest research, the levels indicate that they haven't returned to post recession figures. There haven't been any improvements.

            In the article, "Knowing "Good Food": Immigrant Knowledge and the Racial Politics of Farmworker Food Insecurity," it mentions that immigrants are knowledgeable. They understand how to use their agricultural and nutritional background to their advantage, especially with food insecurities.  Others have assumed that people of color don't have a concept about, "good food," more so, food assistance programs because they fall in the low-income category. I believe this is simply discriminatory, to judge others in that sense because of their class.

            The research for this article was conducted through an ethnographic study which included working out in the fields with the farmworkers. This was the only way to gather information about their culture, habits, and their knowledge if any about nutritious foods. For the most part, the research was conducted with the use of a garden project called, Oaxacan Children's Garden located in the area of north central coast. The tracking of the workers enabled the researcher to visually observe their knowledge about the land and agriculture work. The farmworkers were given the chance to obtain a piece of land and plant the foods they were familiar with. According to the article they didn't lack an education about eating good foods but did lack financially.

            Through the article, it was concluded that during the harvest season the workers were able to cut back or entirely stop relying on government assistance like food banks and or WIC. Most of the garden's participants have previously farmed back in their native land in Mexico and have an expansive understanding for the use of foods and farming systems.  The garden was able to help sustain farmworkers and their families but could not be used as a long-term solution to relieve their food insecurity.  In conclusion, farmworkers will make the best use of a piece of land because they know how to use these resources and the harvest. To assume that a person classified in the low-income class doesn't have nutritional knowledge is a racial distinction.

Avelina Charles

Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness

This study took the questions like the ones we asked in our survey and created a study to analyze, and explain the reasons for peoples view towards the homeless population. The data that was used to analyze had been collected from a national survey of public attitudes toward homeless people. This article looks past the typical face to face contacts and breaks down other factors that influence views and opinions. The difference was shown in exposure to homelessness through media. This category was the only one that displayed more of a negative view all around. Not surprising, was the findings that the more isolated you are from homelessness, than the more likely you are to blame the population of homelessness for being homeless. However, White folks that had been exposed to homelessness through environment, contact, relation, or personal experience tend to show greater compassion than those who lived isolated from homelessness.  

What was surprising, were the findings in regards to African Americans and Hispanics. When exposed to homelessness there was empathy for the community; and yet, when oversaturated in exposure the results were the opposite of White folks. In the Hispanic communities, they admitted to avoiding locations with high saturation homelessness, and the African Americans also showed less sympathy. The oversaturation only worked on the White folks. Another factor in this study that was interesting was level of education combined with race. Not all White folks showed higher levels of compassion once exposed. This was only shown true for those who had higher levels of education. The methods portion of the study showed a correlation in the number of participants that gave the money they received for participating in the survey to a homeless person, and higher levels of compassion towards the homeless.

Homeless Educational Policy: Exploring a Racialized Discourse Through a Critical Race Theory Lens

This article was very intriguing, the topic was education and homelessness, but the focal point was looking at those topics through racial lenses. The data collection was done using a variety of qualitative methods at two high schools in the Midwest. The framework used for the study was the Critical Race Theory. The interviews were transcribed and included as supporting evidence. The identities of the schools and participants were anonymous to allow for total honesty. All the students that were interviewed had experienced homelessness, and there were five adults from the school interviewed as well. One adult was from the school district, one was a lawyer, one was a social worker, and the rest were liaisons for the schools. When interviewed, everyone was asked if they though the reason for high homelessness had to do with race in their area? It was reported that the students agreed race is a factor. One student had mentioned that she thought white mothers were nicer and more giving.  

This article did a great job of addressing institutional racism, and how oppression continues to keep minorities within this cycle. There were comments recorded of faculty making bias remarks towards the minority ethnic groups. What was even more disappointing than that, was the conversation recorded with the social worker who was discouraging these children from wasting to enroll in college, and persuading them to a trade school in hopes of getting a blue-collar job. I did find in both articles that it shows people's views are persuaded by their exposure to homelessness. The more compassionate people understood in both articles that the system is set up to make sure certain races stay stuck between a rock and a hard place.  

Matthew Bevers

Matthew Bevers

Race and Ethnicity SOC 111

4/2/17

Monitoring Perceptions of the Causes of Poverty in South Africa

This article attempted to measure the perceptions of poverty in South Africa. A random sample of 3,498 people were chosen throughout South Africa. Of all the demographics and variables used two of the most interesting demographics were that 39% of people who were interviewed were unemployed and that 23% of the sample had no formal schooling. The sample was asked why they felt people were living in poverty and were given 12 reasons why this was happening. Some of the reasons were: "They lack the ability to manage money" and "they have bad fate". They were then asked to rate each response from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Reasons 1-3 measured if people thought the problem was on an individualistic basis. Reasons 4-7 measured if people that that poverty was a structural problem. Finally, statements 8-12 measured if people thought that poverty was related to fatalistic circumstances. The results for this survey were that people generally blamed structural deficiencies for poverty. While people blamed structural problems the most individualistic problems were a close second which supported previous studies done on this subject. Other interesting points were that the white people surveyed blamed individuals for poverty much more than any other race. Non-white people in the survey blamed society and structural problems more. These findings are not surprising especially taking into account that South Africa just recently became a democracy and where non-whites were aggressively in power for a long period of time. One of the most interesting variables in this survey was lived poverty and its relation to the cause of poverty to structural terms. People who had been in poverty or were currently in it, were much more likely to blame the cause of poverty on the structural problems in society. 

 

Knowing "Good Food": Immigrant Knowledge and the Racial Politics of Farmworker Food Insecurity

This article is about food insecurity among farmworkers and how they cope with said food insecurity. The author of the article claims that ethnic farmworkers are actually more aware and knowledgeable about nutritional foods than the government gives them credit for. And it's not the lack of knowledge that contributes to their food insecurity, but a lack of resources and, sometimes, the wrong resources in the case of food banks and low nutrition food programs. This article was very confusing to me and different than the other articles that I had done. A strong hypothesis was not given, no data or numbers were collected, and everything was done off of qualitative information I suppose. Methods were not explicitly listed, but this didn't feel like a traditional survey. The conclusion that the researcher drew was that when there is food insecurity in the farmworkers community they would rather start their own community farm land that members of the community could draw from. The researcher also went on to state that government underestimates the knowledge that farmworkers have regarding nutritional foods and that this belief is further hurting the communities of migrant workers. Overall, this study was not traditionally what I have come to expect and the lack of any strong scientific information or scientific process made me doubt this survey and find it to be lesser.

Zachary Riggins

Zachary Riggins,  

574 words 

Examining Two Articles on Homelessness 

In the article Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness, data was analyzed from a 1990 national telephone survey. This article seeks to identify and understand the relationship between exposure and attitudes towards homeless people. Contact hypothesis posits that more exposure to homeless people and their situations yields greater overall opinions. The independent variables include methods of exposure to homelessness, all defined as negative by non-homeless people. Controls include gender, age, education, race, and political as well as ideological beliefs. Building upon previous research, this article highlights problems with contact hypothesis such as how negative predispositions to homeless people actually reduce exposure through avoidance of that group. The researchers preempted such possible errors by looking into avoidance of homelessness directly. The findings are consistent with contact hypothesis notwithstanding some variability. People who have higher exposure to homelessness are generally more likely to believe that homeless people are not entirely responsible for their homelessness. However, direct exposure to homelessness does not yield significantly improved or worsened attitudes. Higher education and liberal political views yield improved attitudes towards homeless whereas older age yields the opposite. Race is also a significant factor in perception of homeless: whites are measured to follow contact hypothesis, whereas black and Hispanic opinions of homeless typically remain unfavorable regardless of exposure. 

The article Mental Health Correlates of Past Homelessness in Latinos and Asians examines mental illness and previous homelessness in underrepresented Latino and Asian American populations. It analyzes data from NLAAS (May 2002 to November 2003), measuring diagnosis and mental health service in relation to homelessness for Latino and Asian Americans separately. This article keeps track of risk factors determined by previous research regarding homelessness in order to better isolate the effects of mental illness. Prevalence of prior homelessness in both groups is lower than 5% of their weighted total sample size (particularly low in Asian Americans at about 1%). Substance abuse by Latino Americans yields nearly three times the risk for homelessness. Conduct disorder in Latino Americans yields similar results. Latino Americans who attend regular church service are nearly 70% less likely to end up homeless. For Asian Americans, alcohol abuse is tied to a four-times increase in the likelihood of becoming homeless. Mood disorders in Asian Americans yield similar results. Asian Americans who receive welfare are nearly five times more likely to end up homeless. It is difficult to determine the reliability of these results due to the low sample size of previously homeless Latino and Asian Americans when compared to other populations. 

There is some overlap between both articles. The first article briefly mentions that minorities rarely escape race-based stigma of their prior homelessness if they have a history of mental illness or substance abuse. This is particularly interesting when we examine the second article's findings because it focuses on previous homelessness and health-related diagnosis in Latino and Asian Americans. We might be able to extrapolate the idea that the Latino and Asian American peoples measured in the second article—with prior homelessness and history of substance abuse or mental illness—face race-based stigma regarding their prior homelessness. The first article focuses on exposure to homelessness and defines various ways of exposure (direct or indirect). With this in mind, we might consider the second article to be an indirect method of exposure to homelessness. The essential comparison in both these articles is that a rise in awareness of homelessness may improve someone's attitudes towards the homelessness. As a result, they might become more open to ideas and policies of change regarding the issue as a whole.

Zachary Riggins,  

574 words 

Examining Two Articles on Homelessness 

In the article Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness, data was analyzed from a 1990 national telephone survey. This article seeks to identify and understand the relationship between exposure and attitudes towards homeless people. Contact hypothesis posits that more exposure to homeless people and their situations yields greater overall opinions. The independent variables include methods of exposure to homelessness, all defined as negative by non-homeless people. Controls include gender, age, education, race, and political as well as ideological beliefs. Building upon previous research, this article highlights problems with contact hypothesis such as how negative predispositions to homeless people actually reduce exposure through avoidance of that group. The researchers preempted such possible errors by looking into avoidance of homelessness directly. The findings are consistent with contact hypothesis notwithstanding some variability. People who have higher exposure to homelessness are generally more likely to believe that homeless people are not entirely responsible for their homelessness. However, direct exposure to homelessness does not yield significantly improved or worsened attitudes. Higher education and liberal political views yield improved attitudes towards homeless whereas older age yields the opposite. Race is also a significant factor in perception of homeless: whites are measured to follow contact hypothesis, whereas black and Hispanic opinions of homeless typically remain unfavorable regardless of exposure. 

The article Mental Health Correlates of Past Homelessness in Latinos and Asians examines mental illness and previous homelessness in underrepresented Latino and Asian American populations. It analyzes data from NLAAS (May 2002 to November 2003), measuring diagnosis and mental health service in relation to homelessness for Latino and Asian Americans separately. This article keeps track of risk factors determined by previous research regarding homelessness in order to better isolate the effects of mental illness. Prevalence of prior homelessness in both groups is lower than 5% of their weighted total sample size (particularly low in Asian Americans at about 1%). Substance abuse by Latino Americans yields nearly three times the risk for homelessness. Conduct disorder in Latino Americans yields similar results. Latino Americans who attend regular church service are nearly 70% less likely to end up homeless. For Asian Americans, alcohol abuse is tied to a four-times increase in the likelihood of becoming homeless. Mood disorders in Asian Americans yield similar results. Asian Americans who receive welfare are nearly five times more likely to end up homeless. It is difficult to determine the reliability of these results due to the low sample size of previously homeless Latino and Asian Americans when compared to other populations. 

There is some overlap between both articles. The first article briefly mentions that minorities rarely escape race-based stigma of their prior homelessness if they have a history of mental illness or substance abuse. This is particularly interesting when we examine the second article's findings because it focuses on previous homelessness and health-related diagnosis in Latino and Asian Americans. We might be able to extrapolate the idea that the Latino and Asian American peoples measured in the second article—with prior homelessness and history of substance abuse or mental illness—face race-based stigma regarding their prior homelessness. The first article focuses on exposure to homelessness and defines various ways of exposure (direct or indirect). With this in mind, we might consider the second article to be an indirect method of exposure to homelessness. The essential comparison in both these articles is that a rise in awareness of homelessness may improve someone's attitudes towards the homelessness. As a result, they might become more open to ideas and policies of change regarding the issue as a whole.