abstract: Among the general US population, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the main cause of mortality for Mexican-Americans. CVD is less prevalent among Mexican-Americans than non-Hispanic Whites or African Americans. However, there is limited research regarding the factors associated with increased CVD risk among Mexican-Americans. Thus, this cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the effects of non-biological factors (income, education, employment, acculturation) and diet on CVD risk factors in 75 Mexican-American adults (26 males, 49 females; age=37.6±9.3 y, BMI=28.9±5.3 kg/m2, systolic BP=117±11 mmHg, diastolic BP=73±9 mmHg, LDL cholesterol=114±32 mg/dL, HDL cholesterol=44±11 mg/dL, triglycerides=115±61 mg/dL, serum glucose=92±7 mg/dL). Aside from collecting anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, and measuring fasting blood lipids, glucose, and insulin, information about participants' socioeconomic status, income, employment, education, and acculturation were gathered using a survey. Diet data was collected using the Southwestern Food Frequency Questionnaire. Weight, BMI, and waist circumference were significantly greater for those with a monthly income of <$3000 than for those earning >$3000 (81±15 kg vs. 71±15 kg; 29.8±4.6 kg/m2 vs. 26.5±5.1 kg/m2; 98±12 cm vs. 89±14 cm; respectively) and with an education level of high school graduate or less than for those with some college (84±16 kg vs. 72±14 kg; 30.6±4.2 kg/m2 vs. 26.9±4.9 kg/m2; 100±11 cm vs. 91±13 cm; respectively). HDL-C was higher for those with a monthly income of >$3000 than those earning <$3000 (49±12 mg/dL vs. 41±10 mg/dL), those with some college education than those with high school or less (47±10 mg/dL vs. 37±9 mg/dL), and for those employed than those not employed (46±10 mg/dL vs. 40±12 mg/dL). There was no association between acculturation and CVD risk factors. Percent of energy consumed from fat was greater and percent of energy from carbohydrates was lower in those earning <$3000 monthly than those earning >$3000 (32±5% vs. 29±3%; 52±8% vs. 56±4%; respectively). Greater acculturation to the Anglo culture was negatively correlated with body fat percentage (r=-0.238, p=0.043) and serum glucose (r=-0.265, p=0.024). Overall, these results suggest that factors related to sociocultural and socioeconomic status may affect cardiometabolic disease risk in Mexican-Americans living in the Phoenix metropolitan area. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Nutrition 2011

The field of entrepreneurship is rapidly advancing and matures as a discipline that receives substantial amount of attention. One popular area of research in the discipline of entrepreneurship is to investigate one’s intent to start a business, which is entrepreneurial intention. This is an important construct that warrants ongoing research because entrepreneurial intention is not only a great predictor of entrepreneurial behavior but also an important step in the process of becoming an entrepreneur. The present study, based on a sample of 321 subjects along with 264 observers, makes five contributions to the entrepreneurship literature. First, I examined the psychometric property of entrepreneurial take-over intention and found that it is a construct different from entrepreneurial start-up intention. Second, the results demonstrated that risk propensity and proactive personality are positive predictors of entrepreneurial start-up and take-over intentions, whereas cognitive ability is a negative predictor of entrepreneurial start-up and take-over intentions. Rebelliousness is a positive predictor of entrepreneurial take-over intention and also has an inverted U-shaped relationship with entrepreneurial take-over intention. Third, entrepreneurial self-efficacy mediates the relationship between three individual traits (i.e., emotional intelligence, risk propensity, and proactive personality) and entrepreneurial start-up and take-over intentions. Need for cognition mediates the relationship between two individual traits (i.e., cognitive ability and proactive personality) and entrepreneurial start-up intention. Fourth, 2D:4D ratio (a proxy measure for prenatal testosterone exposure level) negatively predicts risk propensity. There also exist two two-step mediations from 2D:4D ratio to both entrepreneurial start-up and take-over intentions through risk propensity and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Fifth, the results suggest that observer ratings of individual traits only contribute modest incremental validity above and beyond self-reported ratings of them in predicting entrepreneurial start-up and take-over intentions. I discuss implications, limitations, and future directions informed by the present study.