Search Results

open access

Academic Achievement: Examining the Impact of Community Type at a Small Liberal Arts College in Texas

Description: Hierarchical regression was used to determine if high school community type is an effective predictor of academic success when controlling for demographics, prior academic achievement, socioeconomic status, and current commitment or work habits for students entering Austin College in 1992,1993, and 1994 . Findings revealed that there is a relationship between attending high school in community types of rural and independent town controlling for the effects of SAT scores, high school rank, sex, … more
Date: August 1995
Creator: Rutherford, Janis Pruitt
open access

Adolescent Pregnancy: Voices Heard in the Everyday Lives of Pregnant Teenagers

Description: The purpose of this study is to examine the problems that pregnant teenagers encounter at school and at home while they are trying to complete their high school education. Data were collected by in-depth interviews. Twenty pregnant adolescents, who were between the ages of 15 through 18, and were participants in a special teen pregnancy program were interviewed. The major findings in this study included the respondents': 1) unstable family life histories, 2) denial that they were pregnant, 3) … more
Date: December 1995
Creator: Oviedo, Sonia
open access

The Affects of Religiosity on Anomie

Description: This study explores the relationship between religion and anomie. The theoretical framework of Durkheim and Merton was used to suggest the hypothetical relationship between the two variables: as religiosity increases, anomie decreases. A secondary analysis was conducted using the 1991 General Social Survey (GSS). The GSS is one of the largest annual surveys conducted by the National Opinion Research Center. There were 1517 adult respondents composing the 1991 cross-national sample. Questions me… more
Date: August 1996
Creator: Wilson, Dwain R.
open access

AIDS Preventative Behavior Among Taiwanese University Students

Description: This study used the Health Belief Model to examine the predictors of AIDS preventive behavior. The independent variables were the variables of individual perception, modifying factors (psychological variables), and likelihood variables. The respondents, the Taiwanese students of the University of North Texas, were influenced both by Chinese sexuality and Western values in their AIDS-risk behavior. The results revealed that 90% of the respondents were misinformed on the availability of AIDS vacc… more
Date: May 1997
Creator: Wang, Ya-Chien
open access

Bureaucracy and the Mexican American Elderly: Utilization of Formal and Informal Social Services

Description: Using the National Survey of Hispanic Elderly People, 1988, this study examines the support system of the Mexican American elderly and their utilization of formal social services. Two major research questions were addressed: 1) How does the Mexican American family provide assistance to their elderly family members? and 2) How does the bureaucratic structure affect the Mexican American elderly's access and utilization of formal social services?
Date: December 1995
Creator: Dietz, Tracy L. (Tracy Lynn)
open access

Contraceptive Choice among American Teenage Women: a Test of Two Models Based on the Dryfoos Strategy

Description: Teenage pregnancy rates in the U.S. are among the highest in the world for industrialized countries. The generally accepted reason is not that American teenagers are more sexually active but that they contracept less than do teenagers in other industrialized countries. This dissertation reports on a study that was undertaken for two purposes. One purpose was to develop and test two models of contraceptive choice among American teenagers: a "likelihood-of-use" model to predict the likelihood of … more
Date: May 1997
Creator: Crow, Thomas Allen
open access

Determinants of Refugee Production: an Exploratory Analysis

Description: The issue of refugees and the factors which result in forced migration are of growing importance. Currently, one in every 120 people is living outside of his or her nation of origin by force. There appears to be no end in sight to this situation. This paper seeks to examine conditions within a nation which contribute to the production of refugees. Using a model based on Clark's (1989) early warning system, this paper examines both proximate and root causes of refugee migration. The findings sug… more
Date: August 1998
Creator: Zottarelli, Lisa Katherine
open access

The Distribution of Environmental Contaminants: a Socio-Historical Study of Selected Neighborhoods in Dallas County, Texas

Description: This research expands on recent sociological studies which maintain that environmental contaminants in America are disproportionately placed in neighborhoods inhabited by minorities and the poor. Prior studies have focused on the predictor variables which identify areas of contamination near residential neighborhoods, yet fail to explore the socio-political and historical factors which contribute to these phenomena. The Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory 1990 database, th… more
Date: December 1997
Creator: Cutrer, Jennifer G.
open access

Domestic Violence in Same-Sex Relationships

Description: The purpose of this study is to examine domestic violence as it occurs in same-sex male relationships. Data were collected by in-depth interviews with twenty-five gay males, who were between the ages of 23 and 43, and who had previous experience being in a homosexual relationship where domestic violence was present. The major findings of this study include the respondents': 1) definitions of domestic violence and abuse; 2) the type of domestic violence or abuse personally experienced; and 3) re… more
Date: August 1996
Creator: Cruz, Joe Michael
open access

The Effects of Age, Sex, and Class Stratification and the Use of Health Care Services among Older Adults in the United Kingdom

Description: As the population ages, providing health services for the growing number of older people will become an increasingly difficult problem. In countries where the health services are provided by the government, these problems are involved with complicated issues of finance and ethics. This is the case of the National Health Service, the government institution providing health care for the citizens of the United Kingdom. Knowing what social factors influence health care usage can be a link to match … more
Date: December 1999
Creator: Carter, Holly R.
open access

The Effects of Socio-Structural, Economic, and Race Considerations on Rates of Property Crime in the United States, 1958-1993

Description: This study investigates changes in rates of property crime in the United States from 1958 to 1993. Predictor variables include changes in rates of economic factors (inflation, technological/cyclical/frictional unemployment), arrest rates for property crimes disaggregated by race (ARPCDR), interaction of ARPCDR and technological unemployment, alcohol offenses, interaction of alcohol offenses and poverty, drug abuse violations, and interaction of drug abuse violations and poverty. Changes in pove… more
Date: May 1996
Creator: Ralston, Roy W.
open access

The Emergence of a New Capitalist Ethic: Transformational Leadership and the Civil Society Movement as Emergent Paradigms Affecting Organizational and Societal Transformation

Description: Rapid and chaotic changes in market environments have caused business organizations to modify their organizational structures and social relationships. This paper examines the change in relationship between management and employees, which is shifting from an adversarial and controlling role to facilitation and employee empowerment. This paper's research question concerns how classical sociological theory would explain power redistribution within organizations and the formation of an associative… more
Date: December 1997
Creator: Cordas, Jon D. (Jon Dmetrius)
open access

Ethnic Identity : An Examination of Hispanic International Students

Description: I interviewed twenty-four International students from the following countries: Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Puerto Rico and Spain. Hereafter I shall refer to the respondents as Hispanic International students. My primary interest was to learn the way in which Hispanic International students defined themselves in view of ethnic definitions imposed on them by the administrative system in the U.S. First, Hispanic International students defined… more
Date: May 1996
Creator: Correa, Minerva
open access

Family Background and Structure of High Academic Achievers

Description: This study examines the influence of family background and structure on academic achievement. The research focuses on the 11th- and 12th-grade population in the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science (TAMS) at the University of North Texas, Denton. The study examines the variables in family background and family structure that contribute to the students' high academic achievement. Twelve hypotheses related to parents, home environment, family structure and interaction, family roles, and fam… more
Date: May 1997
Creator: McDaniel, Linda Marie
open access

Female Sexual Victimization: Psychosocial Consequences

Description: This archival and qualitative research adds insight into the psychosocial consequences females of sexual victimization incur. Sexual abuse is a pervasive, complex societal problem experienced by 30%-46% of American females. The psychosocial consequences are numerous, often severe, and can result in death. They include: anxiety, BPD, denial, dependence, despair, eating disorders, destructive relationships, fear, guilt, hallucinations, helplessness, hopelessness, hysteria, insecurity, isolation, … more
Date: December 1993
Creator: O'Shea, Sharon
open access

Four Types of Day Care and their Effects on the Well-Being of Children

Description: Data gathered from Tyler, Texas, the University of North Texas, and the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) were used to compare children from commercial, home, church, and university based day care with children not attending day care. The research group, comprised of children attending day care (N=142), were located using non-probability sampling; those not in day care (the control group) came from the NSFH (N=1775). Data from the research group were weighted to match the contro… more
Date: August 1995
Creator: Davis, David C. (David Carlton)
open access

Gender, Jobs and Geographic Origin of Australian Immigrants

Description: This thesis examines access to managerial jobs in the Australian labor market by immigrant women and men from five continents and five individual countries. Comparisons were not made only among both continent and country groups, but also between the women and men within each group, as a measure of occupational gender inequality. An index of managerial representation in the Australian labor market (MORI) was computed and nine independent variables were applied to measure immigrant representation… more
Date: May 1999
Creator: Flanagan, Annette F.
open access

"God, Race and Nation": the Ideology of the Modern Ku Klux Klan

Description: This research explores the ideology of the modern Ku Klux Klan movement in American society. The foci of study is on specific Ku Klux Klan organizations that are active today. These groups include: The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan; The New Knights of the Ku Klux Klan; The New Order Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and The Knights of the White Kamellia. These groups are examined using frame analysis. Frame analysis allowed for the identification of the individual organization's beliefs, goals and des… more
Date: August 1999
Creator: Paul, John Michael, 1975-
open access

The History of Alcoholism Treatment in the United States

Description: The treatment of alcoholism has had a unique historical development in the United States. This study provides a chronology of how the problem of alcoholism was defined and handled during various time periods in United States history. The process that evolved resulted in an abstinence based, comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of alcoholism as a primary disease based on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous. This treatment modality, that developed outside of established m… more
Date: December 1996
Creator: Brent, Suzanne S. (Suzanne Stokes)
open access

In Loco Parentis: How Social Connections Beyond Families Affect Children's Social Adjustment

Description: This study explored the relationship between characteristics of children's families and their social adjustment and how extra-familial connections affect this relationship. According to human ecological theory, children who are in jeopardy through higher-risk family systems and other social forces were expected to be protected from sociocultural risks by social connections in such settings as school, church, kin groups, and neighborhood.
Date: May 1997
Creator: Davy, Rhett A. (Rhett Arawa)
open access

The Influence of Spousal Expectations, Interaction, and Bonding on Marital Quality: a Study of Selected Factors Affecting Individuals' Self-Reported Evaluation of their Marriage

Description: This investigation explored the relationship between married individuals' self-reports of their expectations, interaction, spousal bonding, and marital quality. From two universities, two hundred and thirty-seven currently enrolled and married students volunteered to provide the information on these factors via a semistructured self-administered questionnaire. The typical respondent was a female between 31 and 35 years old who had been married 8 years to her first spouse, had one child at home;… more
Date: May 1996
Creator: Kettlitz, Robert E. (Robert Edward)
open access

International Economic Dependency and Human Development in Third World Countries

Description: This study empirically tested the two competing development theories--modernization and dependency/world-system. Theoretical and methodological approaches suggested by these two paradigms offer opposing interpretations of the incorporation of the Third World countries into the world capitalist system. Therefore, they provide conflicting and, at times, confusing guidelines on the ways available to enhance the well-being of the general populations in these countries. To shed light on the subject … more
Date: August 1996
Creator: Javidan Darugar, Mohammad Reza
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