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Kristina Kahl
Sociology

Michael Dreiling, Mentor

The Link of Cultural Influence: Correlating Women’s Basic Needs and Daily Activities

This research focuses on the social factors that shape how women meet their emotional needs and how cultural messages impact the strategies used in fulfilling those needs. Exploring women’s engagement in physical, mental, and emotional processes promote our understanding of how women fulfill their needs. Specific attention will be paid to how societal messages influence different resources used (such as pharmaceutical drug promotion of SSRI’s), and which choices are implemented to satisfy basic needs. Single mothers, due to high levels of societal pressures, will be the focus during an open ended, semi-structured interview process, which includes a basic needs list to identify met needs. This research tests the hypothesis that recurring messages from multiple sources shape the choices of single mothers as they strive to meet their needs.