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Theses and Dissertations

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Browsing Theses and Dissertations by Author "Braunstein, Elissa, committee member"

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    Beliefs, ideologies, contexts and climate change: the role of human values and political orientations in western European and transition states
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Smith, E. Keith, author; Hempel, Lynn M., advisor; Lacy, Michael G., committee member; Malin, Stephanie, committee member; Hastings, Orestes P., committee member; Braunstein, Elissa, committee member
    Anthropogenic climate change presents a threat on a scale unlike any other faced by human civilizations. Accordingly, extensive research has engaged with questions about which types of characteristics and under which conditions make it more or less likely for a person to be concerned about climate change, engage in actions aimed at fighting climate change, and support climate change relevant policies. Of this prior research, political factors and human values have emerged as key predictors. Values and political factors are deeply related constructs, and do not operate in isolation of each other. But, as of yet, little is known about how these factors interrelate to affect differences in climate change attitudes and behaviors. Further, contextual factors, such as political structures, affluence, and prior histories, have been linked to climate change attitudes and behaviors. Recent findings have noted stark differences between key predictors in Western European and post-communist transition states, such as those between political factors and human values. But, it is unclear in which ways these contextual differences systematically differentiate the patterning of climate change attitudes and behaviors. Accordingly, this dissertation engages theoretically and empirically with the issues of how human values and political factors interrelate to determine climate change attitudes and behaviors, and how these forces diverge based upon the Western European and transition state settings. Overall, when values and politics are in alignment, these forces affect an amplification of climate change attitudes and behaviors, a finding consistent in both settings. But, the role of human values and political factors substantively differs between these state groupings, as well as across different forms of climate change attitudes and behaviors.
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    Inequitable, disparate outcomes for U.S. divorces in 2022: how gender and age moderate family income and divorce
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Falkinburg, Buday, author; Nowacki, Jeffrey, advisor; Roberts, Anthony, committee member; Braunstein, Elissa, committee member
    Divorce can significantly affect personal income, which economically harms adults and children during the post-divorce recovery. Half a century of research on how much a divorce affects gender stays relevant even to this day. What are the heterogeneous effects of divorce on income? Female divorcées potentially have less time to recover from a gray divorce than male divorcées due to a shorter time for higher education, job training, and career development. Devastating consequences plummet if divorcées are not adequately prepared or have a solid plan to rebuild their financial stability. Lower wage-earning potential and segregated occupations significantly affect female-headed households. Investigating the effects of divorce on the gendered family income differential is critical to research, as divorce, gender, and age are contributing mechanisms for the likelihood of the feminization of poverty. Examining the interaction of gender and age in the consequential context of divorces continues to marginalize female divorcées but significantly harms older divorced men more. Divorced women most likely will experience a delayed start to recuperate from the lost time of economic growth and wealth accumulation compared to male divorcées. An imperative suggestion for women is to obtain higher education credentials before significant life events such as marriage, childbirth, or divorce to obtain long-term economic stability.