Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Essays On Health And Labor Market Outcomes, Maryam Jafari Bidgoli

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation examines the relationship between health and labor market outcomes using the 1996-2010 longitudinal RAND Health and Retirement Study (HRS). First, it estimates the relationship between health and labor supply using a simultaneous equation model, treating health as endogenous. The effect of health may be overestimated because people may adjust their non-employment status by their health conditions (justification hypothesis). By using a full information maximum likelihood method, we can conduct a true test of exogeneity on the health variable, taking into account the correlation between two labor supply and health equations’ time-varying error components (unobserved heterogeneity). The results confirm …

Family Consultation To Reduce Early Hospital Readmissions Among Patients With End-Stage Renal Disease: A Randomized Clinical Trial, Matthew James Jasinski

Wayne State University Dissertations

Background: The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have mandated reducing early hospital readmissions (i.e., within 30 days of discharge) to both improve patient care and reduce expenses. Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) have relatively high early readmission rates, due in part to their complex medical regimens but also cognitive impairment, health literacy problems, and lack of social support. We developed a brief family consultation intervention to address these problems and tested its ability to reduce early readmissions among patients with ESRD.

Method: 120 hospitalized adults with ESRD (M age = 57.5 years; 50% male; 86% Black, 12% …

The Effect Of Computer-Delivered Brief Intervention On Heavy Alcohol Use: A Pilot Study, Benjamin Varner Laliberte

Wayne State University Dissertations

Alcohol misuse remains a significant issue on college campuses. One potential remedy, especially for those unwilling or unable to seek face-to-face intervention, are computer-delivered brief interventions. Although the literature is mixed regarding the magnitude of their effect on alcohol use, findings are consistent that they at least produce small changes in alcohol use. The current study tested a computer-delivered brief intervention (CDBI) against an education-only control in order to examine its efficacy in reducing alcohol use. Additionally, it tested the interactive effects of secondary psychopathic personality, a trait associated with higher rates of alcohol use. 100 heavy drinking college students …

The Role Of Media In Promoting Good Governance And Building Public Perception About Governance: A Comparison Of China And The United States, Juan Liu

Wayne State University Dissertations

The media plays three key roles in promoting good governance: watchdog, civic forum and agenda-setter. Despite decades of scholarship, there is little systematic effort to examine the empirical relationship between the media and governance. Moreover, scholars conceptualized governance with their interests and scope of work. Regardless of political system, this dissertation puts forth a new definition of good governance, and explores how controversies or issues framed by the media can be employed to initiate debates among citizens to enhance their own understanding of the political process, in particular the performance of the government.

The first study utilized framing theory to …

Rationalization And The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act: Exploring The Characteristics Of Multi-Level Performance Monitoring And Improvement, Robert J. Mahu

Wayne State University Dissertations

Performance measurement has emerged as a management tool that, accompanied by advances in technology and data analysis, has allowed public officials to control public policy at multiple levels of government. In the United States, the federal government has used performance measurement as part of an accountability strategy that enables Congress and the Executive Branch to control areas of public policy historically driven by state and local governments. In special education, Congress through the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) of 2004 enabled the President to implement a wide-ranging and highly developed performance measurement system in which the states were …

Evaluation Of Milwaukee B And Synchronized As New Service Interchange Designs, Amirarsalan Mehrara Molan

Wayne State University Dissertations

These days, alternative interchanges are attracting the attention of transportation

agencies and designers more than ever. Most of the existing interchanges in the U.S

were built in the 1950s and 1960s when traffic volume was much lower, and the type of

vehicles and driving habits were completely different. Moreover, the knowledge of

highway design and safety is more developed now, and this provides an appropriate

situation to increase the efficiency of interchanges regarding traffic operation and safety

using alternative interchanges.

This research evaluated the performance of two proposed service interchange

designs—the synchronized design which is related to a superstreet intersection …

Schools And Families Empowering Learning (Safe-Learning): An Intervention Feasability Study, Lilia Elizabeth Mucka

Wayne State University Dissertations

For parents, academic achievement is an important part of their child’s development. Generally, parents, teachers and the community are expected to play a supporting role in learning, yet many students struggle in an educational system some believe is in crisis (Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan, & Willingham, 2013). Low-income minority youth are particularly at risk for negative outcomes, such as higher absence rates in school and lower achievement scores (Hochschild, 2003; Zhang, 2003), as compared to suburban White middle/upper-income youth. This study aimed to examine the feasibility of implementing the SAFE-Learning intervention, an adaptation of the Family Check Up, with urban …

The Narrative Of The Outsider: Marginalization In The Works Of María Luisa Bemberg, Lucrecia Martel, And Lucía Puenzo, Natalie Nagl

Wayne State University Dissertations

Through film and literature, my dissertation explores the representation of race, social class, and gender in the works of three Argentine directors. These social constructs have become so ingrained in interpersonal relations that there is rigidity in how they are considered. Therefore, those individuals who do not think and interact appropriately with the constructs occupy the outside. The possibility of marginalization adds another layer to the constructs by sensitizing them to the point that they affect the individual and their relationships (i.e. psychologically and socially). However, several representations, such as those that make up our corpus, challenge the definitions of …

Structure, Gender, Tribalism, And Workplace Power In Libya, Rajia Rashed

Wayne State University Dissertations

The study examines the nature of workplace power in a Libyan oil company and how is power distributed, managed, and maintained within the structure of this workplace. I also examine how gender and tribal identities affect who has power in the workplace setting. I also look at the types of decisions workers have control over, depending on their rank and status within the organization, time with company, gender and tribal identity. In this proposal, I argue that workplace power is not only about decision making within the company, but it also mirrors larger social and political inequalities in the society …

The Political Determinants Of Food Security: Democracy, Decentralization, And Federalism, Catherine E. Schmitt-Sands

Wayne State University Dissertations

Food security is partially determined by politics. This dissertation examines three political determinants of food security: democracy, decentralization, and federalism. Each one is operationalized and tested quantitatively against food security using a dataset of all countries from 1990 to 2011, although each model employs a different subset of the dataset. Democracy is divided along two dimensions: political rights and civil liberties. Both are significant positive predictors of food security. Increases in civil liberties are more consistently and strongly associated with food security than increases in political rights.

Decentralization is assessed along three dimensions: fiscal, administrative, and political. Fiscal and administrative …

This Is Us Saying Who We Are: Speaking The Rhetoric Of Mental Disability, Renuka Uthappa

Wayne State University Dissertations

People with mental disabilities, or what are sometimes referred to as “mental illnesses,” face stigma when they interact with the public. To fight this stigma, the members of a small, grassroots, advocacy organization known as the Speakers Bureau travel to high school and college classrooms narrating their experiences with mental disability. They do so to replace culturally circulating stereotypes regarding such disability with more accurate and positive images. This dissertation is an auto-ethnographic exploration of the rhetoric of the Speakers Bureau. Through rhetorical analysis of members’ classroom speeches, of interviews with each speaker, and of the speaker’s self- assessment of …

Women’S Readiness To Engage In Risky Sexual Behavior: The Effects Of Interpersonal Violence Victimization And Social Rejection, Jacqueline Woerner

Wayne State University Dissertations

The current study explores the role of psychosocial factors in women’s likelihood to engage in risky sexual behavior (RSB). Social rejection is particularly relevant as it is linked to a wide range of negative outcomes including engagement in self-reported RSB; however, its causal role has been rarely studied in a systematic manner. Furthermore, interpersonal violence victimization has been associated with RSB, but the processes underlying this relationship are largely unknown. This study aimed to: 1) test the impact of social rejection on women’s tendency to engage in RSB; 2) understand victimization as an individual vulnerability for engaging in RSB; and …

Maternal Attachment Representations Of The Infant In The First Year Of Life: The Influence Of Prenatal Factors., Fatimah Hussain Alismail

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the predictability of prenatal factors, including maternal depression, reflective functioning, and romantic attachment style, on maternal mental representations at seven months postpartum. The participants were 74 mothers, a subsample of the Perinatal Imaging of Neural Connectivity study (PINC). Data from the current study were collected using semi-structured interviews, including the Pregnancy Interview-Revised (PI-R) (Slade, Grunebaum, Huganir, & Reeves, 1987) and the Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI; Zeanah, Benoit, Barton, & Hirshberg, 1996); and self-report questionnaires, including the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) (Cox, Holden, & Sagovsky, 1987) and the Experiences …

Occupational Choices Among Arab Americans In The U.S.: An Examination Of The Effects Of Gender, Educational Attainment, Generational Status, Country Of Origin, And Motivation, Saad Rashed Alzeer

Wayne State University Dissertations

Migrating to the United States of American holds both great promises and challenges for prospective immigrants. This is true for Arab Americans who migrated to the United States in increasing numbers over the last several decades. One of the most important, yet simultaneously under-examined areas of research interest is that of Arab Americans’ occupational choices and occupational motivations. Occupational choices and motivations are correlated to social status, income earning potential, familial stability, and even health outcomes. This is true for the U.S. population as a whole and even more so for immigrant groups such as Arab Americans.

The present study …

Does Tort Reform Affect The Market For Lawyers? Evidence From The U.S States., Ablaye Camara

Wayne State University Dissertations

This paper investigates the determinants of the market for lawyers with a focus on demand variables including tort reform laws. In this study, I used the Feasible Generalized Least Squared method and a Panel Corrected Standard Error method, with year and State identifiers applied to a panel of U.S states, to estimate the determinants of the Number of Lawyers. I also used the Fixed Effect model with year and state identifiers to evaluate the effects of these determinants on the Earnings of Lawyers.

The findings show that the Lagged Number of Lawyers and the Lagged Alternative Earnings are both significant …

Variations In The Marital Attitudes And Marital Status Of Black And White Americans: An Intersectional Approach, Stacey Ellen Coleman

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to assess the unique socio-demographic positions of Black and White Americans related to variations in marital attitudes and marital status and differences in sex. The study was guided by two research aims: 1.) to assess whether socio-demographic factors were related to racial variations in marital attitudes of Blacks and Whites and if the relationships differ by race and sex and 2.) to assess whether socio-demographic factors were differentially associated with marital status of Black and White Americans and if they varied by race and sex. The study drew on individual-level, nationally representative, cross-sectional, 2010 …

Maternal Employment, Quality Time And Children Outcomes, Ahlam El Yaman

Wayne State University Dissertations

In this paper, I explore two relationships using the three waves of the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. In the first model, I assess the effect of maternal employment on the quantity and quality of time spent with the child. I use child and family fixed estimation and I also look at whether this relationship varies according to the mother’s educational attainment, the gender and the age of the child. In the second model, I estimate child production functions to examine the effects of quantity and quality of mother-child time on children’s behavioral and cognitive …

Parent-Child Interaction Style And Adjustment To Pediatric Cancer Treatment, Benjamin D. Goodlett

Wayne State University Dissertations

Substantial gains in the survival rate of children diagnosed with cancer have been achieved; however, a large body of evidence exists that children and their families are at increased psychosocial risk. Missing from our understanding is how real-time, moment-to-moment interactions build to long-term, developmental changes in child functioning. This project expands our understanding of the variation in child distress during procedures as well as long-term adjustment. Real-time coding and global ratings of parent and child behaviors were used to describe parent-child interactions in terms of dyadic flexibility and dyadic mutuality.

To carry out this project, a new system of collecting …

Mitochondrial-Dna Phylogenetic Information And The Reconstruction Of Human Population History: The South American Case, María Bárbara Postillone, S. Ivan Perez

Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints

Objectives: Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences are becoming increasingly important in the study of human population history. Here, we explore the differences in the amount of information of different mtDNA regions and their utility for the reconstruction of South American population history.

Material and methods: We analyzed six datasets comprising 259 mtDNA sequences from South America: Complete mtDNA, Coding, Control, hypervariable region I (HVRI), cytochrome b (cytb) plus Control, and cytb plus 12S plus 16S. The amount of information in each dataset was estimated employing several site-by-site and haplotype based statistics, distances among sequences, Neighbor-joining trees, distances among the estimated trees, …