Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2022, Sociology

In the United States, school discipline remains a central fixture in the lives of students, teachers, administrators, and (by extension) families, peers, and romantic partners. Previous work has shown a robust association between exclusionary school punishment (i.e., suspensions, expulsions) and a variety of negative immediate and long-term outcomes. Much of the previous work, however, fixates on the punished individual, forgoing the role that key network actors outside of delinquent peers play in attenuating or exacerbating these pathways from school punishment to offending. This re-conceptualization lends support from the life course perspective and the potential role that “linked lives” play alongside turning points in altering individual life trajectories. Using the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS), this dissertation examines the connection of formal punishment experiences from family and romantic partners (both school punishment and arrest/incarceration) to both immediate and long-term consequences stemming from individual school punishment experiences. Analyses begin with using regression techniques to test how family punishment experiences impact school attachment in adolescence, exclusionary school punishment, and adult criminal justice contact. Next, analyses focus on the role of romantic partner punishment experiences and test how relationship punishment matrices influence deviance amplification across adolescence and relationship quality. Finally, analyses tests the connection between cumulative network punishments and offending as it differs across race/ethnicity and gender. Full results indicate partial support for this reconceptualization of viewing punishment outside of the individual context. Formal punishments for parents and siblings have the potential to influence the process of detachment from school and criminal justice contact across adolescence and into adulthood. However, romantic partners' school discipline and arrest histo (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Monica Longmore PhD (Advisor); Peggy Giordano PhD (Committee Member); Paul Schauer PhD (Other); Thomas Mowen PhD (Committee Member); Wendy Manning PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Criminology; Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2016, Gerontology

This qualitative, descriptive study illuminates the experiences of adults diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Intellectual Disabilities (ID) and their challenges and successes in receiving quality healthcare services. This population is challenged by a triple jeopardy of age, intellectual disability and autism symptomology (social/sensory/behavioral/communication challenges) and may experience negative health outcomes and suboptimal relationships with healthcare providers due to their communication deficits and behavioral impairments. Additionally, this population may suffer from increased morbidity and even premature death. Through semi-structured interviews with adults diagnosed with ASD and/or their guardians/caregivers, this study explored their perspectives and impressions of their healthcare experiences for 12 adults. In addition to their ASD diagnosis, many of the adults were impacted by major physical and mental health co-morbidities that require regular medical attention such as epilepsy, diabetes, sleep disturbances, depression, sedentary lifestyle and gastrointestinal problems. Individuals with developmental disabilities, such as ASD, often experience health issues associated with aging at earlier ages and at higher rates than the general population. The goals of this project were to understand how well their health care providers understand autism, including the sensory, behavioral, social and communication needs required of an adult with autism; explore their experience with how well their care is coordinated between primary health care and other specialty or ancillary services, and identify factors which could impact access to care; and to discover what other barriers (e.g. access to available health services, policy concerns, such as health insurance and residency location, advocacy, aging guardians and others) which may potentially influence the health for ASD adults. Some of the adults interviewed experienced negative health out (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Suzanne Kunkel PhD (Committee Chair); Kate de Medieros PhD (Committee Co-Chair) Subjects: Gerontology; Health Care