Sean-Shong Hwang

University of Alabama at Birmingham | UAB · Department of Sociology

Guided by the life course perspective and the stress severity perspective, this study aims to evaluate the question: Does the Three Gorges Project–induced relocation affect people of different ages differently? Using a quasi-experimental design, we collected pre- and post-relocation data from a sample (n = 1,056) that consists of both relocatees an...

It has been estimated that about 15 million people are displaced by development projects around the world each year. Despite the magnitude of people affected, research on the health and other impacts of project-induced displacement is rare. This study extends existing knowledge by exploring the short-term health impact of a large scale population d...

The involuntary relocation of people for development purposes has become prevalent across the world in recent decades. Depression is one of the documented negative outcomes of involuntary relocation among resettlers. Viewing the affected population simply as passive victims, past studies have largely ignored the coping strategies employed by indivi...

The aim of this study is to measure the short-term impact of involuntary migration resulting from China’s Three Gorges Dam project on the 1.3 million persons being displaced. We focus on the social, economic, and mental and physical health impact using three sets of indicators. Using a prospective research design, we gathered information about thes...

To successfully resettle 1.27 million Chinese for the construction of the Three Gorges Project (TGP), the Chinese government employed a new re-resettlement policy which emphasizes infrastructural development of the resettlement sites to assure resettlers a sustainable livelihood following resettlement. Unfortunately, many benefits the policy promis...

Using the 2000 US census data for immigrants of twenty language groups resided in metropolitan areas, we test the hypothesis that the rate of returns (in earnings) to English proficiency is not constant but varies with the language environment (as defined by group size, segregation, linguistic heterogeneity and inequality) in which immigrants are e...

Labor economic literature has demonstrated a consistent positive association between immigrants’ earnings and their level of proficiency in the host society’s language. Sociological literature, on the other hand, has explicated that immigrants’ abilities to speak the host society’s language are affected by structural/ecological factors which shape...

The study examines the mental health consequences of involuntary migration resulting from the world's largest dam project in China. Past claims of a causal link between migration and mental health are inconclusive because they have been based mainly on retrospective data and, therefore, are plagued by a plethora of methodological problems. This stu...

We examined individual, household, and neighborhood correlates of intimate partner violence (IPV) before and during pregnancy. We used multilevel modeling to investigate IPV among 2887 pregnant women in 112 census tracts who sought prenatal care in 8 public clinics in Jefferson County, Alabama, from 1997 through 2001. Data were collected from the P...

This study evaluates the empirical merits of a multilevel model of English language proficiency among immigrants. The model represents a synthesis of Blau's theory of intergroup relations and the human capital model. Hypotheses derived from the model were tested using multilevel ordinal logistic analysis with individual and aggregate data from the...

Findings from a prospective study of project-induced migration in China's Three Gorges Dam project are reported. The study tests the hypotheses that anticipation of involuntary migration is stressful and that the harmful effects are partially mediated and moderated by the resources migrants possess. Using data collected from a sample of designated...

Using panel data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS), we investigate the possible links between the Russian mortality crisis of the 1990s and social transition that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. The results of the analysis demonstrate that Russians’ life chances and their psychological resources and well-being were d...

Previous studies found that although the designated migrants in China's Three Gorges region showed strong support for the project, they also expressed concerns about the project's likely negative impact on their family life. A psychological explanation is proposed to reconcile these apparent contradictory findings. The empirical validity of the pro...

Post-1980 internal migration patterns were unanticipated, and prevailing explanations of them fail to account for the effects of new international relationships. A human ecological theory is developed which suggests an explanation based on the sphere of sustenance activities in ecosystems and relative dominance in these activities. Larger net migra...

Recent theoretical debates have focused on the utility of two alternative perspectives on ethnic identification. However, empirical support for either is neither consistent nor conclusive and previous analyses seldom conceptually or empirically examine the aggregate macrostructural determinants of ethnic identification. This study reevaluates the r...

To determine whether the states of the Deep South are characterized by contradictory drinking norms: high abstinence paired with high consumption among drinkers. Comparison of survey results of drinking patterns (N = 65,216) in four states of the Deep South (Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi) to those in leading states in the East (New Yo...

The principle of homophily is central to several social-science theories. When applied to the study of population change in geographic areas, these theories predict racial homogeneity in residential settlement patterns. The concentration of one group in an area is expected to attract same-group members while deterring others. We examine this predic...

Class differences in racial attitudes among blacks were examined using the 1979-1980 National Survey of Black Americans (NSBA). We examined two perspectives - class realignment and ethnic competition - as possible explanations for attitudinal differences between middle-and lower-class blacks. The majority of our findings supported the ethnic compet...

The faster rate of population growth in suburbs than central cities that commenced at the turn of the century had transformed the United States into a suburban nation by 1970 (Berry and Kasarda 1977). Despite the nonmetropolitan population turnaround (Fuguitt 1985; Johnson and Beale 1994) and scattered incidences of gentrification in the 1970s, the...

This study represents our efforts to synthesize two intermarriage perspectives—one explaining intermarriage at the micro level using individual attributes, the other explaining it at the macro level using aggregated community characteristics. The 5% Public Use Microdata Samples from the 1980 U.S. Census were used to link individual and community da...

This study explores our hypothesis that the fertility of Chinese women, which was kept low by the one-child policy implemented in the People's Republic of China in 1979, is likely to bounce back to a higher level once these women emigrate. We test this hypothesis with data from the 1990 U.S. Census of Population 5% Public Use Microdata Samples. Usi...

How do outmarried Asians compare to their inmarried counterparts and to their spouses in terms of socioeconomic status? We attempt to answer this question by testing hypotheses derived from assimilation, exchange, and economic theories. The study is conducted using a representative U.S. sample of married Asians. Results based on multinomial logit a...

In recent years, a significant amount of attention has been devoted to the survival of ethnicity among multiracial people in the United States. This concern is especially evident in the case of the offspring of Asian-Anglo couples. While scholars have speculated on the extent to which Asian ethnicity will continue to persist among multiracial child...

How do outmarried Asians compare to their inmarried counterparts and to their spouses in terms of socioeconomic status? We attempt to answer this question by testing hypotheses derived from assimilation, exchange, and economic theories. The study is conducted using a representative U.S. sample of married Asians. Results based on multinomial logit a...

Information on couples married in the U.S.A. in which at least one of the spouses is of Asian descent is obtained from the 1980 U.S. Census' 5% Public Use Microdata Samples. It is used to analyze Asians' ethnic and racial exogamy. Results show that the probability of exogamy is lowest when foreign-born Asians are in their first marriages and husban...

This study combines structural factors of intergroup relations with personal assimilation factors to examine Asian American intermarriage in California, We conduct a multilevel logistic regression analysis of outmarriage among Chinese, Filipinos, and Japanese in 14 California metropolitan statistical areas with high con centrations of Asian America...

Because of the long presence of U.S. soldiers in Asia, war-bride marriages involving servicemen and Asian women have been formed throughout the century. The literature, however, contains little empirically sound information on Asian war brides. This analysis develops a methodology to identify war brides and applies it to estimate the number of war...

Abstract Nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) residential segregation in 1990 and change in the preceding decade have received insufficient attention. A set of empirical hypotheses are derived and assessed using nonmetro and metropolitan (metro) counties in Texas. Places in nonmetro counties were more segregated than places in metro counties in 1990 as in 19...

Blau's (1977) macrostructural theory builds on the assumption that social structure affects intergroup relations. This relationship depends upon the opportunity for intergroup contact. Previous tests of Blau's theory, however, treat opportunity as an unmeasured construct. P*, as a measure of opportunity for intergroup contact, not only enables a te...

Residential segregation has long been a topic of investigation for urban scholars. In attempting to understand this phenomenon, most researchers have examined the characteristics of different residential neighborhoods (typically census tracts) and have often compared the composition of the population within the census tract over time. This study lo...

Cross-sectional and longitudinal variations in rates of intergroup marriage have often been used as indicators of assimilation for minority groups. This article demonstrates that both types of comparisons can give misleading results when census data are used for calculating intermarriage rates without restrictions. Census data include immigrants wh...

"Cross-sectional and longitudinal variations in rates of intergroup marriage [in the United States] have often been used as indicators of assimilation for minority groups. This article demonstrates that both types of comparisons can give misleading results when census data are used for calculating intermarriage rates without restrictions. Census da...

The hypothesis that racial or ethnic minority groups that are residentially segregated from the majority group in a racially or ethnically mixed society are less likely to be assimilated than those who are residentially integrated is empirically assessed. Data are used from the 1980 census of population for 139 Texas cities with large Hispanic popu...

A 1983 survey of Texas homebuyers reveals a high degree of mismatch between their preferred and actual residences. Analysis indicates that the logit of fulfilling residential preference is largely determined by the type of area preferred and the occupation and age of the homebuyer. Mismatch is most common among homebuyers preferring a suburban loca...

Some literature on the impact of labor moving to large project-related developments in the western USA is briefly reviewed. The present analysis is based on the relatively good data now becoming available for this region. Large in-migrations have tended to halt population declines, rather than lead to rapid increases. Over 40% of inmigrants were mo...

To explain the migration turnaround of the 1970s, it has been suggested that the United States may be approaching an equilibrium state in the exchange of populations between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. As metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas have become more similar in population composition and industrial and socioeconomic characteri...

The extent to which residential segregation results from differences in the socioeconomic status of racial/ethnic groups remains a topic of debate. Although recent studies have argued that improvements in minority groups' socioeconomic status will lead to reduced residential segregation, such analyses have been cross-sectional. This study uses lon...

A large number of regional economic-demographic projection models have been developed but their accuracy has seldom been evaluated. This article examines the accuracy of one such model in projecting total populations for 1980, using 1970 base data, for 106 counties and 553 places in two states. Comparisons of the model’s projections to 1980 Census...

Examines the relative effects of a set of economic factors and three sets of noneconomic factors - demographic, public service and governmental, and socioeconomic factors - on 1960-1970 and 1970- 1980 age-specific net migration rates for Texas counties. Overall, the results suggest that economic factors have decreased, and noneconomic (particularly...

Analyses of residential segregation have been limited because of data availability. However, the 1980 census has made available for the first time data that allow segregation indices to be computed for places in nonmetropolitan counties. Levels and determinants of residential segregation in metropolitan central cities, metropolitan suburbs, places...

Reports the results of an analysis of the methodological adequacy and utility of a sample of environmental impact statements. The accuracy of a sample of population projections made as a part of the EIS process is assessed and the likely utility of such statements for local impact area decision makers is evaluated. The major inadequacies in each st...

Between 1970 and 1980 racial and ethnic segregation for major Texas cities declined for all groups, but declines were small between Anglo and Spanish groups. Segregation is unaffected by variation in size of city, percent of population that is Spanish or Black, or central city status. (Author/AM)

Typescript (photocopy). Thesis (Ph. D.)--Texas A & M University, 1983. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 166-184). "Major subject: Sociology."