SWU Honors Students Address Southern Sociological Society

CENTRAL, SC – April 18, 2008 – Three Southern Wesleyan University honors students gave presentations at the annual meeting of the Southern Sociological Society held in Richmond, Va., April 9-12. 

Laura Becker discussed her analysis of how immigration and societal development influence sex trafficking, citing national-level data collected by the United Nations. Becker concluded that patterns of international migration play a larger role in determining the destination of these human trafficking victims than the socio-economic status of their nation of origin.

Chandra Walls talked about racial and ethnic variations in attitudes toward spanking based on the 2006 General Social Survey. Walls studied how male status, education levels and beliefs about biblical literalism influence views about spanking among families in various ethnic groups. She plans a follow-up study in which she will interview Christian Hispanics in the Upstate to get more detail on their views regarding parental discipline.

Jessica Hubbard teamed with Associate Professor Richard Rogers to use the 2005 Guyana HIV/AIDS Indicator Survey in discussing the influence of religion and ethnicity on AIDS-related attitudes and behaviors in Guyana. According to Rogers, there has been little exploration into the cultural dimensions relative to AIDS prevention. Hubbard spoke about her plans for research on educational disparities affecting AIDS orphans in the country. 

All three students are sophomores at Southern Wesleyan University. Becker majors in psychology and pre medicine/dentistry and is from Fair Play, S.C.; Walls is a psychology major from Greer, S.C.; and Hubbard is a special education major from Georgetown, Guyana.