Instructor I
Phone: (239) 590-1512
E-Mail: sobryan@fgcu.edu
Office: Modular 1, # 19

Research and Teaching Interests:

• Race and Ethnic Relations
• Theories of Race and Ethnic Relations
• The Intersection of Race/Ethnicity, Class, and Gender
• Racial and Cultural Identity Formation in the African Diaspora
• Medical Sociology
• Sociological Social Psychology
•  Social Psychology of Health and Illness 
• Social Psychology and Social Mobility: Education, Labor Market, and Health
• Sociology of Education
•  Sport and Academic Achievement (Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Class) 
• Social Stratification
• Research Methods and Statistics

 
Recent Research Focus:

Sport and educational outcomes/behaviors/academic achievement

STEM Research

Other Research Interests:

• Health Disparities, Social Determinants of Health
•  Access to Care and Utilization of Services (particularly for race/ethnic minorities, minority women)
•  Disparities in Quality of Health Care (race/ethnic minorities, minority women)
• The Experience of Chronic Illness and Illness Behavior (particularly for minorities, minority women)
• Alternative Health Care
•  Environmental Justice

Publications:

 O’Bryan, S., Braddock, J. H., & Dawkins, M. P. (2008). An examination of the effects of school-based varsity sport participation and parental involvement on male academic behaviors. Challenge: A Journal of Research on African American Men, 14(2), 1-27.

 O’Bryan, S., Braddock, J. H., & Dawkins, M. P. (2006). Bringing parents back in: African American parental involvement, extracurricular participation, and educational policy. Journal of Negro Education, 75, 401-414.

Recent and Upcoming Conference Presentations:

“Elementary Teachers’ Confidence and Competence in School Mathematics: A Comparison of the United States and Singapore,” (with Shelby Gilbert).  To be presented at the 55th Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society, Montreal, May 2011. 

“Elementary Mathematics Teacher Preparation in the United States and Singapore: A Critical Examination,” (with Shelby Gilbert).  To be presented at the Annual Meetings of the Southern Sociological Society, Jacksonville, April 2011.

“Race, Gender, Parental Involvement, and Math Achievement: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Effects of High School Athletics,” (with Jomills Henry Braddock, II).  Presented at the Annual Meetings of the Association of Black Sociologists, Atlanta, August 2010.

“School Athletics, Parental Involvement, and College-Preparedness among Hispanic Males: Does Type of Sport Matter?” (with Jomills Henry Braddock II and Marvin P. Dawkins).  Virtual presentation at the Annual International Sport Conference, Vancouver, March 2010.  

“An Examination of the Effects of School-Based Varsity Sport Participation and Parental Involvement on Positive Academic Behaviors.”  Presented at the Annual Meetings of the Association of Black Sociologists, New Orleans, June 2009. 

“Provider Perceptions of African Americans: A Conceptualization of Discrimination in Health Care.”  Presented at the International Conference on Social Sciences, Orlando, FL, December 2005.

 “An Examination of Non-financial Barriers to Health Care: The Case of Sickle Cell Disease among African Americans.” Presented at the Annual Meetings of the Southern Sociological Society, New Orleans, March 2003.

“Beyond the Medical Model: A New Approach to Chronic Pain and Sickle Cell Disease” (with Linda Belgrave and John Murphy).  Presented at the Annual Meetings of the Society of the Study of Symbolic Interaction in conjunction with the American Sociological Association, Chicago, August 2002.