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Browsing by Subject "Sexual orientation"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
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    A mixed methods approach to understanding weight-related behavioral disparities among college students by sexual orientation
    (2014-10) VanKim, Nicole Allison
    Existing research has found that lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) college students are less likely to engage in healthful weight-related behaviors than heterosexual students. This dissertation builds on these findings by addressing three aims: (1) to identify major weight-related behavioral profiles by sexual orientation and gender; (2) to examine the relationship between institutional supports for LGB college students and weight-related behaviors; and (3) to explore the context surrounding weight-related health among LGB college students.In Aim 1, data from the 2009-2013 College Student Health Survey were used to fit latent class models. Overall, four distinct profiles were identified: "healthier diet," "moderate diet," "unhealthy weight control," and "healthier diet, physically active." Heterosexual and bisexual women exhibited all four profiles, discordant heterosexual women did not exhibit a "moderate diet" profile, and neither gay/lesbian nor unsure women exhibited "healthier diet, physically active" profiles. Heterosexual men exhibited all four profiles, discordant heterosexual men exhibited two profiles ("healthier diet" and "unhealthy weight control"), and gay, bisexual, and unsure men did not exhibit "healthier diet, physically active" profiles.In Aim 2, institutional-focused LGB supports (including school policies, institution-administered LGB and diversity organizations, and housing) were associated with more favorable weight-related behavioral profiles for heterosexual and some bisexual women. In contrast, these supports were associated with less favorable weight-related behavioral profiles for some gay and unsure men. Student-engaged LGB supports (including courses offered and student-run LGB groups) were not associated with students' weight-related behavioral profiles across sexual orientation and gender.In Aim 3, individual interviews with LGB, queer, and pansexual college students were conducted. Many felt their sexual orientation helped them be physically activity, engage in healthful eating habits, and have a positive body image. However, their sexual orientation was also a source of stress that adversely impacted physical activity and eating habits. Participants identified the need for institutional-level interventions to promote physical activity, healthy eating, and positive body image among LGB students.
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    Socially stratified phonetic variation and perceived identity in Puerto Rican Spanish.
    (2009-08) Mack, Sara Lynn
    This dissertation examines the interaction between phonetic variation and perceptions of speaker identity in Puerto Rican Spanish. Using an interdisciplinary approach, three experiments were designed and carried out: (1) an descriptive study of stereotypes about sexual orientation and male speech, (2) an observational study examining the relationship between acoustic parameters and perceived sexual orientation, perceived height, perceived social class, and perceived age, and (3) an implicit-processing experiment examining the influence of social stereotypes on memory for voices. The study was carried out in the San Juan, Puerto Rico, metropolitan area and included ninety-six participants. Results of the first experiment indicate that there is considerable uniformity in notions of speech variation associated with the gay male speech stereotype for the participants in the study, and that the most cited stereotypical markers of sexual orientation are related to stereotypical notions of gender. However, a majority of the respondents explicitly stated that although they realize a stereotype exists, they do not believe there is necessarily a correspondence between stereotypes of gay men's speech and real life production. Results of the second experiment show that listeners do evaluate speakers' voices differently in terms of perceived sexual orientation, and that perceptions of sexual orientation are most strongly predicted by one acoustic measure of vowel quality (the second resonant frequency of the vowel /e/, which relates to tongue position in the anterior-posterior dimension). An examination of the relationship between perceptions of sexual orientation and perceptions of height, age, and social class revealed that perceptions of height were correlated with perceived sexual orientation. The third experiment showed that listeners responded more quickly to speakers previously rated as more gay sounding than they did to speakers rated as more straight sounding, and the slowest mean responses were for the deleted variant. Most significantly, a d-prime analysis showed the strongest signal detection in the case of the sibilant ([s]) when produced by stereotypically gayer sounding speakers. The results suggest a relationship between /s/ variation and listener perceptions of sexual orientation as well as a possible effect of perceived sexual orientation on speech processing. Taken together, these results underscore the need for methods that measure both conscious and subconscious effects of stereotypes in speech production and perception.