Lecture 4

Question 1

Social Patterns

Answer 1

• Quantitative Methods
• sociologists focus on levels of variables
  eg. what is the overall level of psychological distress in the population?
• sociologists focus on associations between variables
  eg. how is being temporarily unemployed associated with levels of psychological distress
• sociologists focus on mechanisms that explain the associations between variables

Question 2

Social Causation Hypothesis

Answer 2

experiencing economic hardship increases the risk of subsequent mental illness

Question 3

Social Drift Hypothesis

Answer 3

the argument that illness causes one to have a downward shift in social class

Question 4

Theoretical Model

Answer 4

The stress process model: when disruptive events occur, individuals often struggle to establish homeostasis and this process can be wearing and taxing
- a stressor liek being laid off should elevate distress because its involuntary, undesired and unscheduled

Question 5

Wheaton

Answer 5

• stressed importance of social context in shaping stress exposure potentially altering its meaning and threat level

Question 6

Social Comparison theory

Answer 6

suggests that people value their own personal and social worth by assessing how they compare to others

Question 7

Analytical framework

Answer 7

countervailing factors: yes youre losing a job but there may be governmental supports to soften the financial strain you may endure, its a cushion effect

Question 8

Longitudinal Research Design

Answer 8

• repeated surveys with the same time, repeating measures
• to understand what has changed and what hasn’t
• conduct in-depth interviews with people who endured the event

Question 9

The Essentials

Answer 9

randomisation samples were selected from a large national panel of individuals to match “a balanced sample matrix” this was done to ensure a representative sample

Question 10

Operationalization/Measurement

Answer 10

the focal dependent variable is psychological stress
- to measure this we asked different questions
- we used these reponses and coded them as follows
- create an index of psychological distress

Question 11

independent variable

Answer 11

-in this application of the stress model we identify financial strain as a secondary stressor
- primary stressor: losing the job
- secondary stressor: the possibility of experiencing financial strain

Question 12

Conceptualization and operationalization of the sense of mastery

Answer 12

• of all beliefs about self and society that might affect an individuals distress the belief in control over ones life may be the most important
• the sense of control or mastery is the opposite of perceived powerlessness

Question 13

Melvin Seeman

Answer 13

hypothesized that powerlessness is the main type of alienation in society

Question 14

Control Variables

Answer 14

a varaible the researcher attempts to statistically “hold constant” its not the main interest in the studys objective but we statistically control it because that variable could potentially influence the other relationships were interested in

Question 15

What about X?

Answer 15

• categorization and data reduction
  “- baseline” control variables
• how does that variable potentially affect another variable? taking all things into account

Question 16

Qualitative Findings

Answer 16

Example : what explains the lower distress among individuals who were temporarily laid off relative to their peers who remained working?
1. A temporary state: many were afforded pause from work and exempted from work stressors, they had more time for self care

2. Reduced Internal Attribution: the normatoivty level of being TLO allowed workers to appraise job distribution as a societal level of phenomena affecting the entire labor market rather than due to personal qualities
3. Alleviated Financial Strain: the unusual financial strain associated with TLO was reduced by increased personal savings and reduced spending, government support and employer provided pay and benefits

Question 17

In Depth Interviews

Answer 17

ideal to probe how individuals interpret events in social life and unpack complex processes that underlie the nuances of experiences and perceptions

Question 18

NVivo

Answer 18

an application for analysis the authors separately analysed interview transcripts developed modesto code themes, met frequently to discuss themes, refine themes and review transcripts