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Journal Article 1: Barranco, R. E., Rader, N. E., & Smith, A. (2015). Violence at the box office: Considering ratings, ticket sales, and content of movies. Communication Research, 1–19. doi:10.1177/0093650215614363

The negative effects of violent content in movies have recently been a hot topic among both researchers and the general public. Despite growing concern, violence in movies has persisted over time. Few studies have examined why this pattern continues. To fill this gap in the literature, we examine how Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) movie rating descriptors predict ticket sales of 2,094 movies from 1992 to 2012. We test the validity of three theoretical models: (1) the reflective model, (2) the reactance model, and (3) the market model. We find that violent content is linked neither to violence in the broader U.S. culture (i.e., the reflective model) nor to a psychological reactance by adolescents (i.e., the reactance model). Rather, we find, especially among PG-13 (parents strongly cautioned) movies, that violent content leads to increased ticket sales, suggesting that market demand (i.e., audience preferences) is responsible for continued violent content. We discuss the implications of our findings.

Journal Article 2: Roberts, D. (2014). Modified people: Indicators of a body modification subculture in a post-subculture world. Sociology. doi:10.1177/0038038514554672

This article contributes to the debate on the relevance of subculture as a theoretical concept for understanding groups in contemporary Western societies. Utilizing data from a virtual ethnography of body modifiers, the article challenges the dominance of post-subcultural approaches. The body modification subculture discussed in this article has not only formed along socioeconomic lines, it has developed alternative work opportunities that enable and promote continued involvement in the subculture beyond one’s youth. While scenes and (neo-) tribes maintain their relevance for scholars investigating groups with a more temporary nature, the data presented herein show that subcultures did not vanish as society transitioned from post-War to postmodernity

Journal Article 3: Ruppert-Stroescu, M., LeHew, M. L. A., Connell, K. Y. H., & Armstrong, C. M. (2015). Creativity and sustainable fashion apparel consumption: The fashion detox. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 33, 167–182. doi:10.1177/0887302X15579990

Because promoting sustainable fashion apparel consumption is a pressing contemporary problem, Generation Y participants in the Midwestern United States were challenged to a Fashion Detox, where they refrained from acquiring fashion apparel for ten weeks and blogged about the experience. Content analysis of blog entries for this exploratory study revealed expressions of creativity that were examined through the lens of the propulsion model of kinds of creative contributions. Findings revealed kinds of creative contributions stimulated by voluntary simplicity that satisfy the fashion apparel consumer’s need for novelty and change: expressions of creativity that follow a fashion-driven direction already established, called redefinition and forward incrementation, and those that take a completely different path but within the context of seeking novelty and change, or redirection. Examples of creative activities within these three kinds of creative contributions are, respectively, re-designing old clothes, shifting their focus to home décor instead of apparel, and turning away from fashion apparel altogether. Fourty-six percent of the participants left the 10-week activity feeling that their creativity had been enhanced and 54% expressed the intention to carry on the sustainable consumption lessons they learned. By cultivating expressions of creativity that lead to sustainable consumption through education and innovative business models, stakeholders may initiate a paradigm shift that fulfills the fashion apparel consumer’s need for novelty and change without sacrificing the planet s resources.