Abstract: Teens’ increased freedom to explore different environments potentially increases exposure to contextual risks such as social disorganization. Socially disorganized areas, in which residents have difficulty maintaining social and physical order, are related to increased teen alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) use and delinquency. Alcohol outlets, indicators of disorganization, influence teen alcohol use through increased access and perceptions of alcohol use as normative. Most prior studies have not considered context dynamically, instead focusing on a static area, typically administrative units (e.g., census tracts) around the teen’s home as the area of environmental influence. However, these units may not capture contextual risks where teens spend time, potentially missing a key influence on ATOD use and delinquency. By instead measuring all the places teens spend time (i.e., activity spaces), we address this gap in past research. Integrating GPS-EMA techniques, we apply this methodology to examine whether contextual exposures in teens’ activity spaces differ from contextual risks present in residential contexts and examine relationships between contextual exposures in activity spaces and teen risk behaviors.

Sign-ups are now open for CSSCR’s free Spring Quarter courses. For more information, consult the course listing below.

The Chicago Project on Security and Threats (CPOST), a multidisciplinary research center in the University of Chicago’s Social Sciences Division, invites applications for a full-time Senior Research Associate.

CPOST is an international security affairs research institute at the University of Chicago. Founded in 2004 by Robert Pape, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, CPOST is best known for creating and maintaining the most comprehensive and transparent suicide attack database available. Since its creation, it has expanded beyond terrorism to research counter-intuitive policy-relevant solutions to security situations around the globe.

The Senior Research Associate (SRA) will hold an academic research appointment in CPOST and will oversee a research team examining the Islamic State’s propaganda activities. Funded by a multi-year grant from the Department of Defense Minerva Initiative, the Minerva Martyr Video Project is a first of its kind to combine insights from political science and psychology/neuro-science to gain insights on the neuro and sociological construction of martyrdom. Under the center’s director, the SRA will make significant contributions to the project’s design and methodology as well as the supervision and training of a team of student and professional researchers. Under supervision of CPOST’s faculty leadership, the SRA will oversee data collection, evaluation, and analysis, write reports, articles, and manuscripts and conduct literature reviews. The SRA will also present research findings at meetings and conferences, as well as to funding agencies.

The Sociology Department at Whitworth University invites applications for a Lecturer in Sociology with an emphasis on social welfare and applied sociology, criminal justice, and social research methods and statistics. This is a one-year position while the department does a full search for a tenure-track assistant professor.

The Whitworth Sociology Department’s mission is to prepare students with the skills to describe, explain, interpret, and make a difference in social life. The department equips students to promote well-being in the arenas of social life around them and encourages students to explore the relationships between sociology and faith. To these ends, students are expected to master the substantive content of sociology and its methods of research and data analysis, to develop an ideal vision of social life as informed by sociology and their deepest convictions, and to be prepared to advance that vision through a career and social engagement. The faculty is committed to providing excellence in teaching, scholarship and mentoring, and to modeling community engagement through research, writing, consultation, and service.

The Gender Studies Program at the University of Southern Indiana invites applicants for a tenure track teaching position in Gender Studies at the Assistant Professor level beginning August 2017. The Gender Studies Program is interdisciplinary and incorporates courses and faculty from various fields across the College of Liberal Arts. The position requires teaching Introduction to Gender Studies, (theoretical) Perspectives on Gender, and other courses in the candidate’s area of expertise. This position requires teaching or research in the intersectionality of gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, class, sexuality, and/or other social justice issues. The University of Southern Indiana is actively engaged in developing cultural and educational opportunities in southern Indiana and faculty service to the community is valued. The preferred candidate will have a doctorate level degree in Gender Studies or a related Liberal Arts field by the time of appointment. ABD candidates may be considered if doctorate is conferred by appointment. Salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience. Evidence of commitment to undergraduate teaching is required and candidate should have an active research agenda.