Digital Commons Network^™

Social Networks And Contraceptive Dynamics In Southern Ghana, Mark R. Montgomery, Gebre-Egziabher Kiros, Dominic K. Agyeman, John B. Casterline, Peter Aglobitse, Paul C. Hewett

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

There is accumulating evidence that social diffusion processes affect the pace of the adoption of modern contraception in societies undergoing fertility transition. In settings where mortality has declined and many other social and economic changes are underway, decisions about contraception are fraught with uncertainty and risk. In such circumstances, couples may rely on other persons for information and guidance. In this paper, we examine the influence of informal social networks on the contraceptive behavior of reproductive-age women, using longitudinal data collected in six communities in southern Ghana. Our results confirm the hypothesis that adoption of modern contraception is strongly affected …

Increasing Basic Writers' Thinking About And Understanding Of Literacy Through Literacy-Based Service-Learning, Suzanne Dena Gates

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

This project aligned a community college basic writing class with student-performed community service that was specifically literacy-based. The sample consisted of two writing classes, with data collected through an eighteen-week semester. The study was conducted according to qualitative methods and thus allowed for a close look at students' thinking about and understanding of literacy, and how changes in students' thinking about literacy reflected in their class experiences. One basic writing class was designated the service-Iearning class; the other basic writing class was designated the comparison class. Both classes shared the same instructor, texts, in-class activities and writing prompts. The service-learning …

A Study Of Influences And Life Choices: African American Males From An Urban Pre-Trial Detention Center And The Navy, Patrick O'Neal Arnwine

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to explore the influences, experiences, and disparate life choices of eight African American males from the Jacksonville's Pre-trial Detention Center and the U.S. Navy. The focus of this project was on the choices made by the participants and possible reasons for those choices. Specifically, the research question for this study is "How do some African American males from Jacksonville's Pre-trial Detention Center and the Navy describe their life experiences and the influences of these experiences on their choices?''

The framework for this project was a cross-case and cross-site study. The sites were the Jacksonville Pre-trial Detention …

Reconstructing Consent, Marcy Strauss

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

From 19th Century Social Reform To 21st Century School Improvement: A Community Service-Learning Quilting Project For Middle School Students, Irene S. Laroche, Leslie Kelly, Cindy Tuttle

Project Summaries

"From 19th Century Social Reform to 21st Century School Improvement" is an interdisciplinary teaching unit built around a community service learning quilting project. It is designed for use by middle schoolteachers who want to integrate lessons from United States history (19th Century social reform), English/ Language Arts (writing of school improvement plans), and mathematics (scale drawing and measurement in quilt design). The unit includes approximately two weeks of academic work; an additional period of time is needed in school or after school if students are going to sew their quilts.

Eric Resources On Service-Learning And Related Topics: An Annotated Bibliography, Education Resources Information Center

Bibliographies

No abstract provided.

Cesar Chavez: Educating The Heart, Orange County Cesar Chavez Day Initiative

Curriculum

Cesar Chavez was one of the most significant and influential civil rights leaders of our time. Chavez devoted himself to social justice and improving the lives of the impoverished and oppressed. His name, like the name of Martin Luther King, Jr., speaks of character and commitment. This project is in honor of the life and work of Cesar E. Chavez.

The Cesar Chavez project is a multi-faceted service learning experience that will provide your 4lh graders with a unique, hands-on perspective of California History. Whether used to celebrate Cesar Chavez Day (March 31st) with your class or simply as a …

Ecological Degradation, Rural Poverty, And Migration In Ethiopia: A Contextual Analysis, Markos Ezra

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The interrelationships between ecological degradation, poverty, and rural out-migration in Ethiopia are examined using data from a Household and Community Survey conducted in 1994-95. The survey, which covered a sample of 2,000 households, collected retrospective data on changes in household composition, including migration of household members, during the period 1984 to 1994. The study hypothesizes that the decision to out-migrate in the impoverished rural areas of northern Ethiopia is influenced by a combination of factors based on individual, household and community characteristics. A multilevel analysis is applied to determine the role of these factors in the decision. The findings show …

Effects Of Immigrant Status On Mexicans In The United States, Michelle Monique Balan

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis analyzes the relationship between immigration and mental health. I used data from a health and migration study of Mexican immigrant women in a Houston community. I found a statistically significant negative relationship between family social support and feelings of depression. Thus, family social support may have buffered some harmful effects of immigrating to the United States. However, I found inconsistent results with labor market variables that may be due to a measurement problem. Both employment variables were statistically significant (p<.05) for models (predictor, predictor and control) including loss of interest and these variables remained significant after control variables were added. Unfortunately, only one of the work variables--the number of months the respondent worked--was in the predicted direction. Contrary to expectations, the other employment variable (ever worked) was negatively related to a loss of interest in previously pleasurable activities.

From Pronatalism To Social Welfare? Extending Family Allowances To Minority Populations In France And Israel, Leslie King

Sociology: Faculty Publications

An inherent tension exists between the goals of pronatalism and the actual policies through which law makers have often attempted to raise birth rates. Proponents of pronatalism often prefer to raise births only to specific racial/ethnic or national groups; yet in modern democracies, it is unacceptable for social policies to explicitly discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin. Social benefits, such as family allowances, must be accessible to all citizens. The recent extension of certain previously denied family benefits to minority populations in France and Israel illustrates this tension and points to a future direction in which …

Community Service Learning In Culturally Diverse Stettings As A Springboard For Student Constructed Case Studies, Viviana Alexandrowicz

Service Learning, General

This article describes the process of incorporating case study development by students in a teacher education methods course. The students weekly and final reflections, in addition to the high quality of their case studies, suggested that case study development by teacher candidates is an effective approach to increase their understanding of and competence to work with second language and culturally diverse people.

Old Testament Principles Relating To Divorce And Remarriage, Roy Gane

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

No abstract provided.

Levels Of Acculturation Of Children Of Mexican Descent As Perceived In Their Kinetic Family Drawings, Kevin Adolfo Rosado

Dissertations

Problem. Information on Hispanic children and their families is limited. More research activity is crucial in the light of the rapidly expanding population of Latino/Hispanics. Mexican families present a particular challenge to clinicians and to treatment settings, as well as to researchers. The impact of acculturation on psychological assessment instruments is largely unknown. This study sought to use the Kinetic Family Drawing (KFD) as a tool to gain information about how differences in acculturation are reflected through drawings done by children of Mexican descent.

Method. Private and public schools with representation of Mexican-American and Caucasian children from rural, semi-rural, small …

Intergenerational Transmission Of Values Through Adages In An Ecuadorian Family, Norma Albán-Lowry

Dissertations

Problem. This study explored the function of adages in intergenerational value transmission in an Ecuadorian family. Drawing on the richness of Hispanic culture, the study documents a method used by parents and grandparents to pass on their wisdom to younger generations.

The transmission of values to younger generations has always been of special interest to parents, teachers, and religious educators. While the role of the family in the transmission of values has been researched, the use of adages, long practiced as a traditional parenting method in Ecuadorian families, had not been studied.

Method. The ethnographic method, as proposed …

The Influence Of Tamil Lexical Items In The English Spoken By Malaysian Tamils In The Domain Of Frienship, Kahlah Vathee Periasamy

Student Works (2000-2009)

Malaysian Tamils who speak English in the domain of friendship. The researcher divided the participants into three age groups so as to get a comprehensive data for the study. The three age groups are as shown:

i. 10-20 Year Age Group.

ii. 21-49 Year Age Group.

iii. 50 > Year Age Group.

The researcher selected helpers from each of the group to aid in the recording of the English conversations of the participants. This was done in order to determine the influence of Tamil as well as Bahasa Melayu. and other lexical items in the English that the participants speak. The …

Education And Citizenship In Diverse Societies, Chandran Kukathas

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The question of the state's role in the control of sponsorship of education is addressed in the light of liberal political principles designed to keep peace and enforce toleration in culturally diverse societies. Some contemporary, self-described liberal philosophers argue for a much more substantial educational role for the state than liberal principles will really allow. Brian Barry's argument for that role assumes that the state can prescribe answers to controversial questions regarding the truth and the good life in which a truly liberal state would take no interest. Stephen Macedo is more accommodating to religious diversity than Barry, but his …

Pearson's Paradox : An Emergent Social Reality, Anthony Dews

Theses : Honours

In his speech The Light on the Hill Noel Pearson criticises the nature of contemporary social reality in Australia. In his view this social reality is co-dependent in portraying Indigenous Australians as victims and non-Indigenous Australians as guilty. The result has been the generation of a welfare mentality to the structural disadvantage of Indigenous Australians. I conclude that the debate Pearson has initiated is ongoing. This debate has adopted ideological overtones consistent with emphases on individual and community development and these emphases are emerging in policy. However I suggest that governments are seeking to divest responsibility for individual and community …

The Social Construction Of Fatherhood, Helen Le Gresley

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The present research sought to explore the lived experience of fatherhood guided by a social constructionist perspective and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework (1977, 1989), by collaborating with seven Western Australian fathers on a series of multiple case conversational interviews. To ensure that the data generated from the interviews was manageable and the aims and objectives of research could be effectively facilitated by the researcher, only those fathers belonging to specific cohort, that is, fathers in an intact heterosexual, defacto or marital relationship, were sampled. The interviews were transcribed and a qualitative thematic analysis was conducted on the data. The multiple case …

A Quest For Common Ground: Communication Factors Among Latino Patients, Medical Practitioners And Interpreters In The Daviess County, Kentucky Area, Sandra Merkel-Finley

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Statistical evaluation of the number of Hispanics in the United States in a given year varies. However, all data suggest that the Hispanic population will become the largest ethnic minority in the United States in the new millennium. This research illuminates for health care providers and interpreters cultural factors to consider in the delivery of patient-centered and efficacious care for the ethnic patient, specifically the Latino. The research project answered the question What culture-related factors impact effective communication between Mexican patients and American medical nurses in the Daviess County, Kentucky area? The project focused on the interpersonal aspects of culture …

Concerns And Recommendations On Implementation Of The Workforce Investment Act Of 1998 In Boston: Summary Of The "Policy Roundtable: Local Implementation Of The Workforce Investment Act And Its Impact On Latinos And Other Communities", Luz Rodriguez, Kevin Whalen, Mary Jo Marion, Rita Lara, Claudia Green

Gastón Institute Publications

The primary public funding vehicle for employment training and workforce education is in the midst of radical change. The transition from the Job Training Partnership Act of 1982 to the Workforce. Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) will have a dramatic impact on providers and clients alike. This impact is likely to be especially challenging for programs targeted to the hardest to serve populations. For example, many practitioners are worried that members of certain groups will be more likely to be "lost" and not receive needed services under the voucher system that will be the primary payment method under WIA. Linguistic …

The Early Years In African American Education: A Life History Approach To Evaluating Control Theory, Beverly Diane Logan

Dissertations and Theses

The concern of this study is educational achievement, disproportionately low among inner-city African-American students. Because education is so highly valued, particularly among African-Americans, underachievement is considered deviation from cultural norms.

Social control theory attempts to explain why people conform to social norms in spite of pressures toward deviance. Many adverse pressures encountered in inner-city environments and persistent features of institutional racism toward blacks in school make underachievement understandable. Hirschi's (1969) control model, therefore, seemed most appropriate for examining black student achievement.

Control theory holds that individuals conform to cultural norms when their behavior is controlled through established social bonds, which …

Effects Of Language Interpretation Services On Medical Visit Patterns Of Patients With Limited English Proficiency, Anita Marie Kay

Dissertations and Theses

Due largely to immigration, a growing proportion of the U.S. population does not speak English well enough to communicate with medical providers. Many research studies have described ways in which language differences can compromise health care quality and access for language minority groups, but professional interpreter services are rarely provided due to costs of services and to increasing cultural and linguistic diversity among patients with limited English proficiency (LEP). Some researchers have argued that costs of interpreter services could be offset through enabling LEP patients to maintain better health and use health services more cost-effectively, such as obtaining care in …

Hair Race-Ing: Dominican Beauty Culture And Identity Production, Ginetta E. B. Candelario

Sociology: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Creative Voice In An Academic Context, Laura Brearley

The Qualitative Report

Who we are changes what we write about and how we write. Simply stated, if the academy is to change, if our views of reality are to be more inclusive, then we need to take a broader view of authorial voices… Tierney and Lincoln, 1997 This paper challenges the traditional paradigm of densely referenced text and the use of a passive, 'neutral' researcher's voice. It draws on current doctoral research that is using creative modes of data representation to examine managers' experiences of transition in organisational life. Within this research, ten managers from an educational institution are being tracked through …

Why Urban Parents Resist Involvement In Their Children’S Elementary Education, Peter Mcdermott, Julia J. Rothenburg

The Qualitative Report

We examined the perceptions of teachers and parents about family involvement in urban schools. The study generated from several others that we have been conducting about teaching in high poverty, urban schools. Using focus groups, our purpose was to learn how we could better prepare teachers for urban schools. The data revealed that teachers are frustrated with a lack of parental involvement in literacy activities at home and at school. Parents, however, expressed distrust toward the local elementary school because they felt the faculty has been biased against African American and Latino children and their families. Consequently, the parents said …

Latino Agenda 2000, Leslie Bowen, Lillian Hirales, Mary Jo Marion, Giovanna Negretti, Andrés Torres

Gastón Institute Publications

Few would argue that our community's position is precarious. On the one hand, we are a growing presence in the Commonwealth. In 1995, there were an estimated 344,068 Latinos living in Massachusetts, representing 5.6% of the total state population, a 20% increase since 1990. It is expected that the 2000 census will confirm that Latinos are indeed the largest minority group in the state. Latinos make up an even larger proportion of the total population of a number of key cities, including Lawrence (48%), Chelsea (39%), Holyoke (37%), Springfield (20%), and Boston (12%). Latino youth have formed the largest minority …

Urban Violence Among African American Males: Integrating Family, Neighborhood, And Peer Perspectives, M. Daniel Bennett Jr., Mark W. Fraser

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Even though rates have declined in recent years, violence is a serious problem in many American cities. This paper reviews recent perspectives on violence among young, urban African American males. Special attention is afforded the "father absent" hypothesis, the effect of poverty, the character of neighborhoods, the roots of self-efficacy, and peer influence, particularly the influence of street codes. The latter are argued both to regulate some situational behavior and to promote the use of violence in disputes over social status, drugs, and money. The authors discuss implications for policy and community development.

After The Summit: Building Community Networks For America’S Youth, Sabrina Burke

Special Topics, General

The purpose of this research project is to provide a guide for local coordinators and organizers of America’s Promise and other national initiatives. It looks at the new paradigm of community youth development how it is changing the ways that social organizations are conducting business. It explores how to create community networks as a way for communities to better serve their young people. In this project, a community network is defined as an association of individuals representing different organizations and associations working together (collaborating) to achieve a common long term vision or goal. Although there is a rich diversity among …

An Investigation Into The Relationship Between Language Attitudes And Academic Performance In Northampton County, Virginia, Public Schools, Glenda L. Rose

English Theses & Dissertations

This language attitude study targets third grade, fifth grade, eighth grade and high school students in the Northampton County, Virginia, Public School System. Two hypotheses were proposed. First, students exhibiting negative attitudes toward their own dialect have a lower performance level in language arts classes than students expressing positive attitudes. Second, factors such as sex, race, grade level, and level of exposure to other dialects are reflected in language attitudes. In order to determine the validity of these hypotheses, school officials were asked to identify five students performing well and five students having difficulty in the language arts. Ten third …

Little Squatter On The Osage Diminished Reserve: Reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's Kansas Indians, Frances W. Kaye

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Laura Ingalls Wilder was a person of her time and place. She fictionalized her memories to give what she honestly believed was the truest possible account-true in deeply human ways as well as in accurate details-of one family's settlement history on the Great Plains frontier. I have never really liked her work. While my sister read all the Little House books, I read ... Zane Grey. That I do not share Wilder's values and point of view is no argument against the books-I do not share Zane Grey's values and point of view, either. But Zane Grey is not held …