Doctoral Dissertaton Research: Public Discourse and Public Opinion, Perspectives on Single-Parent Families, Working Wives and Mothers and Family Size

这个项目探讨了关于在二十世纪改变了美国家庭的三个发展的公共话语。它们是单亲家庭的增加，外出工作的妻子和母亲的增加，以及家庭规模的下降。大众杂志和学术期刊对这些话题的公开讨论可能会有所不同，并可能随着人口统计的发展和公众舆论的变化而变化。因此，该项目解决了这些核心问题：1)是什么导致关于这些主题的媒体和学术话语的数量随着时间的推移而变化？2)人口统计趋势、新闻业和学术界的状况、来自其他社会问题的竞争以及学者和记者之间的互动在解释这些话语的数量变化方面有多重要？3)关于这些主题的媒体和学术话语的内容如何随着时间的推移进行比较和联系？4)媒体和学术话语的内容的变化与关于这些主题的公众舆论的变化有什么关系？这项研究使用时间序列数据来回答前两个问题，并用内容分析来回答后两个问题，考察了一个世纪以来公共话语的数量和内容。

This project explores public discourse regarding three developments that transformed the American family during the twentieth century. They are the rise in single-parent families, the increase in wives and mothers working outside the home, and the decline in family size. Public discourse on these topics may differ in popular magazines and scholarly journals, and may change with demographic developments and public opinion. The project therefore addresses these central questions: 1) What causes the quantity of media and scholarly discourse on these topics to change over time? 2) How important are demographic trends, conditions within journalism and academia, competition from other social problems, and interaction between scholars and journalists in explaining the changing quantity of this discourse? 3) How does the content of media and scholarly discourse on these topics compare and relate over time? 4) How do changes in the content of media and scholarly discourse relate to changes in public opinion on these topics? Using time-series data to answer the first two questions, and content analysis to answer the second two, the study examines both the quantity and content of public discourse over an entire century.