ISSUED: 14 December 2018
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Two Shepherd University students and a professor presented research at the Social Changes, Cultures, and Education International Conference in Washington, D.C., on December 11. The student participants were funded by the Samuel O. Legreid Student Research Presentation Fund.
Eric Sloper, a sociology major from Catlett, Virginia, presented “Political Affiliation and Gun Policy,” which explored gun control as a social issue using secondary data analysis of the General Social Survey (GSS). Sloper used GSS data to analyze respondents’ feelings and views about gun control by party affiliation, taking into consideration how factors such as sex, age, class, and political party shape views on gun ownership.
Kyle Maxson, a sociology major from Hurricane, presented “Poverty, Parenting, and the likelihood of Abusing Opiates.” Maxon analyzed data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive to determine whether living in poverty increases the likelihood of abusing opioids.
Dr. Chiquita Howard-Bostic, chair of the Department of Sociology and Geography, presented a paper, “Closing the Revolving Door of Social Problems: No Band-Aid Approach,” which looked at how micro-, organizational-, and macro-level social problems such as status differences, quality-accessible services, and penalties are often underassessed when determining or influencing the health of individuals, groups, and the larger society.
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