Selected Abstracts from the 47th Annual Mid-South Sociological Association meetings in Charlotte, NC, October 21–23, 2021

Selected Abstracts from the 47th Annual Mid-South Sociological Association meetings in Charlotte, NC, October 21–23, 2021 Tina Deshotels and Shelly A. McGrath Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, Alabama, USA; University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH (1) Examining the digital divide during the pandemic: a snapshot of the Southeastern United States Ryan Jackson Howard and Justin McPherson Troy University The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated an unprecedented shift to online educational instruction for American youth over the past 18 months. Given consistent documentation of a digital divide, which broadly refers to unequal access to both internet and internet-enabled devices across demographic groups, limited access to the tools necessary to support online learning presents a clear problem for households unable to support a student learning in a virtual format. To explore and examine the associations between the pandemic on the digital divide in the Southeast, we relied on 27 weeks of combined data from the Household Pulse Survey. We found notable differences in access to both computers and internet among respondents. Specifically, data indicate children in lower income households are less likely to always or usually have access to a computer or digital device for educational purposes, as well as internet access, than are those from higher income households. We also found evidence of a digital divide by race, although the differences were smaller than differences by household income. Although our data preclude associations with indicators of educational achievement, existing literature suggests the coinciding digital divide and shift to online instruction might exacerbate existing educational disparities for youth in the southeast. Afraid of what: predictors of fear of being victimized Stanley Henderson Samford University Fear has more power and influence over our lives than we may realize. People who are fearful of airplanes tend to drive when they travel. People that are afraid of drowning don’t go into deep waters. Fear shapes what policies we have distributed through government and impacts the extent people will go to make themselves feel safe. Using the 2018 General Social Survey I aimed to predict what leads people to be fearful in their own neighborhood. My hypothesis is that people with higher amounts of fear are also people who are white and live in more racially diverse areas. My dependent variable to measure respondents fear was if someone felt safe walking in their neighborhood at night. My independent variables are owning a gun, favor or opposing the death penalty, the amount of diversity in their neighborhood, and region. I controlled for race, gender, and family income. I will discuss key findings and implications of this research. 2022 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC SOCIOLOGICAL SPECTRUM 2022, VOL. 42, NO. S1, S1–S49 https://doi.org/10.1080/02732173.2022.2030647 Correctional officer perceptions of inmate mental health: correlations with job satisfaction, emotional labor, and work demands Maegan George and Meredith Huey Dye Middle Tennessee State University As an overlooked element of the criminal justice system, it is vital research addresses the increased interactions between mentally ill inmates and correctional officers. Most research on correctional officers focuses on individual factors, work environment factors, and organizational factors. There is a lack of research on the interactions between correctional officers and inmates, specifically interactions between correctional services and mentally ill inmates. This lapse can be addressed by examining the impact the perceptions of inmate mental health has on correctional officer job satisfaction and work demands. This research seeks to investigate the hypothesis that correctional officer’s job satisfaction and work demands are correlated with their perceptions and interactions with inmates. For example, officers with high levels of job satisfaction and low work demand will have a positive influence on inmates, specifically on their mental health. Alternatively, officers who hold positive perceptions of inmates will have higher levels of job satisfaction and lower work demands. To explore this hypothesis, I collected data from 187 current and former correctional officers using an online survey administered through Qualtrics. Officers were recruited through two Facebook groups. Results from this survey will be presented and the implications for research, policy, and practice will be discussed.