The purpose of the project was to examine the relationship between the social development of preschool children and parenting styles. Preschool social development was accessed by the use of sociometry. Parenting styles of mothers and fathers were determined by a questionnaire. The parenting styles and the sociometric status of the children were analyzed to determine a relationship using the chi-square analysis. The analysis indicated that there was no significant relationship between parenting styles and the sociometric status of preschool children. It is recommended that more research be done in the fields of parenting styles and sociometry.

Background Most environmental epidemiological studies are conducted in high income settings. The association between ambient temperature and mortality has been studied worldwide, especially in developed countries. However, more research on the topic is necessary, particularly in India, given the limited evidence on the relationship between temperature and health in this country. The average global temperature is increasing, and it is estimated that it will go up further. The factors affecting vulnerability to heat-related mortality are not well studied. Therefore, identifying high-risk population subgroups is of particular importance given the rising temperature in India. Objectives This research aimed to investigate the association of daily mean temperature and rainfall with daily deaths (Paper I), examine the relationship of hot and cold days with total and cause-specific mortality (Paper II), assess the effects of heat and cold on daily mortality among different socio-demographic groups (Paper III) and estimate the effect of maximum temperature on years of life lost (Paper IV). Methods The Vadu Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) monitors daily deaths, births, in-out migration and other demographic trends in 22 villages from two administrative blocks in the rural Pune district of Maharashtra state, in western India. Daily deaths from Vadu HDSS and daily weather data (temperature and rainfall) from the Indian Meteorological Department were collected from 2003 through 2013. Verbal autopsy data were used to define causes of death and classified into four groups: non-infectious diseases, infectious diseases, external causes and unspecified causes of death. Socio-demographic groups were based on education, occupation, house type and land ownership. In all papers, time series regression models were applied as the basic approach; additionally, in Paper III, a case-crossover design and, in Paper IV, a distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) were used. Results There was a significant association between daily temperature and mortality. Younger age groups (0-4 years) reported higher risk of mortality due to high and low temperature and heavy rainfall. In the working age group (20-59 years), mortality was significantly associated only with high temperature. Mortality due to non-infectious diseases was higher on hot days (>39°C), while mortality from infectious diseases and from external causes were not associated with hot or cold days. A higher heat-related total mortality was observed among men than in women. Mortality among residents with low education and those whose occupation was farming was associated with high temperature. We found a significant impact of high temperature on years of life lost, which confirms our results from the previous research (Papers I-III). Conclusion The study findings broadened our knowledge of the health impacts of environmental exposure by providing evidence on the risks related to ambient temperature in a rural population in India. More specifically, the study identified vulnerable population groups (working age groups, those of low education and farmers) in relation to high temperature. The adverse effect of heat on population is preventable if local human and technical capacities for risk communication and promoting adaptive behavior are built. Furthermore, it is necessary to increase residents’ awareness and prevention measures to tackle this public health challenge in rural populations.

This study examined a segment of the homeless population who participated in a jobs training program. The research investigated the effect of socioeconomic status, self-esteem, and locus of control on the clients in getting and keeping jobs. The training was a comprehensive 36-day treatment dealing with three major areas: (a) how to get a job, (b) how to keep a job, and (c) how to develop life-coping skills. A quasi-experimental research design was used for testing by t-tests, two-by-two repeated-measured anova, chi-square tests, and regression analysis. The findings showed that high socioeconomic status clients demonstrated higher self-esteem and internal locus of control than low socioeconomic status clients at the start of the treatment. The treatment had a significant effect on both groups with an increase in self-esteem and internal locus of control and a decrease in both external locus of control dimensions of powerful others and chance. The treatment had a greater effect on the low socioeconomic status clients than on the high socioeconomic status clients on increases in self-esteem and locus of control—internal. Both groups were successful in finding jobs, with 79% for high socioeconomic status clients and 74% for low socioeconomic status clients having jobs at the end of the treatment. Both high self-esteem and high socioeconomic status had a positive effect on the length of time over a sixmonth period following treatment that clients were able to maintain employment (job retention). This study must be considered largely as exploratory in its findings. Restrictions in the selection process prevented the results from being generalized. It does, however, provide a very important profile of a segment of the homeless population that can be useful in the research for new and improved methods of dealing with the problems of the homeless unemployed.

In the United States and many other countries, obesity is viewed as a public health crisis that must be handled. Many social and individual solutions to the problem are proposed in research and policy. On an individual level, many Americans try to get rid of their fat with a multitude of weight loss practices as part of a healthy lifestyle. Obesity rates, feelings towards fatness, and weight control behaviors are significantly affected by a number of sociocultural factors. In this project I explore the relationship between the desire to lose weight and weight control practices with income. Using data from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) 2009-2010 (N=4,341), I explore how income is associated with body satisfaction and weight control behaviors. I then examine if specific weight loss strategies differ by SES among those who have tried to lose weight (N=1,512). Results indicate that income impacts the desire to lose weight, weight loss attempts (OR=.778, CI=.663-.913), and some weight control strategies such as exercise (OR=1.392, CI=1.055-1.836), switching to lower calorie foods (OR=1.364, CI=1.027-1.813), and eating less fat to lose weight (OR=1.449, CI=1.094-1.919). However, other sociodemographic characteristics, such as education, gender, and race, played very important roles in predicting these behaviors. Overall, these findings suggest that an individual’s socioeconomic status influences feelings about one’s weight and what one does to change it, but it is only one piece of the puzzle. This study has several implications; most notably that one-size-fits-all obesity solution policy platform cannot be created if real changes are expected. Tailoring interventions to specific groups based on education and income are important to creating lasting change.

Background: The current adherence to colorectal cancer screening (CRCS) guidelines is suboptimal. How neighborhood characteristics, e.g., racial residential segregation (RRS), area-level socioeconomic status (SES) and physician composition, affect CRCS adherence are not fully understood. We assessed associations between facility proximity to RRS areas, area-level SES, physician composition, and CRCS adherence. Methods: Data sources included 2013 Minnesota Community Measurement, 2009-2013 American Community Survey, 2012 U.S. and 2012-2013 Washington State Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data, and 2013-2014 Area Health Resource File. Logistic regressions and weighted multilevel logistic regressions were used to assess the association between facility proximity to RRS areas and CRCS adherence, and association between area-level SES, physician composition and CRCS adherence, respectively. Results: Facility proximity to RRS areas was positively associated with low CRCS performance, e.g., facilities located < 2 miles away from Hispanic-segregated areas were 3 times more likely to have low CRCS performance than those at ≥5 miles away (odds ratio (OR): 2.83, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.29, 6.24). Most area-level SES measures showed negative bivariate associations between deprivation and colonoscopy/overall adherence, and measures such as education had relatively strong associations, although few of fully-adjusted associations remained statistically significant. Further, a one-unit increase in the percentage of gastroenterologists among physicians was associated with 3% increase in the odds of colonoscopy (OR: 1.03, 95% CI: 1.01-1.04) and overall adherence (OR: 1.03, 95% CI: 1.01-1.04) in the rural-metropolitan areas. Conclusions: Developing culturally tailored CRCS programs, increasing percentage of gastroenterologists, and targeting deprived communities may improve CRCS adherence.

Title: Socio-economic aspects of physical activities for seniors in Prague Objectives: The aim of study was to find out what are the socioeconomic aspects of walking and other physical activities Prague's population of seniors. Specifically find answers to questions, whether regular walk in this population affect the quality of life in old age, if those people bring motion standard from earlier stages of life, what are their motives for periodic walking, if they operate other physical activities than walking and whether is there a coherent categories of pedestrians. Methods: In this thesis were used quantitative and qualitative research methods. The source of quantitative analysis was the questionnaire WHOQOL OLD with a complementary inquiry on walking. The sample consisted of 156 respondents and was divided equally between pedestrians and non-pedestrians. There were used methods of descriptive statistics and statistical hypothesis testing. For qualitative analysis was with a part-respondents (pedestrians) made an interview, investigating their socioeconomic status, the motives for carrying out walking and other activities, and also was made their segmentation. Results: Statistically significantly higher quality of life (at 95% confidence level) in the domains of Independence, Filling, Nearby...

This correlational study investigates traditional gender roles, self-efficacy for career and parenting, and socioeconomic status (SES), as they relate to university undergraduates’ planning for career and family and anticipation of work-family conflict regarding their future families. Unmarried, undergraduate women and men of varying socioeconomic status will complete an online survey consisting of several scales. Proposed results predict that women must often choose between career goals and family care, whereas men usually do not. Expectedly, women will show higher self-efficacy for parenting and increased anticipation of work-family conflict and planning for career and family compared to men. It is proposed that men will exhibit greater self-efficacy for career. Women of lower SES and women who aspire to obtain leadership positions at work will likely report higher anticipated work-family conflict. Those of lower SES will likely hold more traditional gender beliefs than the middle and upper SES groups, and men whose fathers helped in the home will likely have higher self-efficacy for their own parenting. The anticipated results indicate a discrepancy between men’s and women’s and those of differing SES’s planning for work and family. Women will tend to undertake an increased burden; however, a switch to more family-friendly workplace policies for men and women would likely help couples become more egalitarian in their division of family and career labor and planning.

This case study investigated the phenomenon of the black white test score gap by seeking to determine if there was a difference in the academic performance of African American students and their White peers. The determination of student academic performance was made using scores from second semester Algebra II classes at two high schools in the Tucson Unified School District. The data covered three academic years and was analyzed via SPSS (independent samples t-test, ANOVA, and a pairwise analysis) and content analysis for qualitative analysis. Findings revealed that there was no variance in the scores of African Americans and their White peers attending an affluent school; however African Americans attending a low-income school scored lower than all groups that were compared in this study.

Thesis advisor: James R. Mahalik / Most stage models of gay identity development posit that gay men follow a distinct hierarchical blueprint wherein internal identity processes (e.g. dismantling internalized homonegativity) co-occur with increasing disclosure of their sexual orientation to others (i.e. greater outness). However, some scholars contend that linear stage models lack flexibility and do not account for the diversity of gay men's experience (Fassinger & Miller, 1996). Specifically, gay men's internal and public identity processes may advance by way of distinct, unparallel pathways and for that reason should be evaluated in conjunction and independently of one another. Extending Meyer's (1995; 2003) minority stress model, this study examined the role of childhood gender behavior, adult masculinity, social support and socioeconomic status in explaining gay men's identity status and degree of outness. Five hundred eighteen gay men recruited from online sources (e.g. listservs, Usenet groups) completed measures assessing stigma, anti-gay attack, recalled childhood gender behavior, masculinity, social support, and socioeconomic status. Hierarchical and logistic regression analyses supported several hypotheses reflected in the findings that stigma, anti-gay attack, masculinity, and social support were significantly associated with gay men's identity status and outness. In addition, socioeconomic status moderated the relationship between masculinity and outness, as well as between minority stress (anti-gay attack) and identity status. Altogether, each of the factors examined in this study appear to play a unique role in explaining gay men's identity development and outness, underscoring the complexity of the social context that may intensify or alleviate the stress of these processes. The theoretical implications, future research, limitations, and recommendations for counselors are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

<p></p><p> Compared to White and high socioeconomic (SES) patients, Black and low SES patients are less likely to receive adequate pain care, including receiving fewer analgesic medications. Providers may, inadvertently or not, contribute to these disparities in pain care via biased decision-making. Prior work suggests there is a complex relationship in which race and SES uniquely and interactively affect providers’ clinical decisions, but few studies have examined the influence of patient race and SES simultaneously on providers’ pain-related decisions. Furthermore, previous studies suggest that providers’ attitudes about race and SES influence their clinical decisions. The present study examined the influence of patient race and SES and providers’ implicit and explicit attitudes about race and SES on providers' pain-related decisions. Four hundred and seven medical residents and fellows made pain assessment (interference and distress) and treatment (opioids, opioid contracts, and workplace accommodations) decisions for 12 computer-simulated patients with chronic back pain that varied by race (Black/White) and SES (low/high). Subjects completed Implicit Association Tests to assess implicit attitudes and feeling thermometers to assess explicit attitudes about race and SES. Repeated measures ANOVAs indicated that patient race and/or SES had main effects on all pain-related decisions and had interaction effects on providers’ ratings for interference, distress, and workplace accommodations. Providers’ implicit attitudes about race and explicit attitudes about race and SES predicted their pain-related decisions, but these effects were not consistent across all decisions. The current study highlights the need to examine the effects of patient race and SES together, along with providers’ implicit and explicit attitudes, in the context of pain care. Results inform future work that can lead to the development of evidence-based interventions to reduce disparities in pain care.</p><br><p></p>