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Do the experiences that children and youth face early in life impact their mental health differently across immigrant generations? And do these associations vary by ethnicity and gender? My thesis addresses these significant and critical questions, as immigrants have been a large contributor to Canada’s population and are expected to grow in the next couple of decades. Research on the complexities of the social environments that shape and contribute to a child and youth’s mental health has been well documented in literature throughout the years. However, current research on immigrant children and youth that have examined the healthy immigrant effect across immigrant generations (immigrants versus. Native-born) in Canada have been sparse as there have been relatively few studies on this topic. Moreover, the studies on the healthy immigrant effect of children and youth immigrants in Canada have been inconclusive if immigrant children and youth have this initial health advantage. My study contributes to the understanding of how children and youth can experience similar life events (e.g., having parent-child educational aspiration discrepancies and sense of community belonging) but can impact their mental health differently based on immigrant status as well as ethnicity and gender. I use data from the Hamilton Youth Study (HYS) (2013) that has a representative sample of first-, second-, and native-born children of children and youth living in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada to examine parent-child educational aspirations and mental health across immigrant generations along with gender. I also use data of the Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health (2012) along with the Census data to examine the association of how South Asian and Chinese youth living in similar ethnic neighborhoods contributes to their sense of belonging and impacts their mental health across generations. To test out these associations, I conducted Ordinary Least Squares regression for chapters 2 and 4 and Hierarchal Linear Modelling (HLM) techniques for chapter 3. These three papers contribute to the discussion of the healthy immigrant effect of children and youth by suggesting that children and youth that experience the same events earlier in life can impact their life to a greater extent more than others based on immigrant status, as well as ethnicity and gender. / Thesis / Candidate in Philosophy

No abstract provided. / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Members of the Arab American community experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) face unique barriers to help-seeking and have different comfort levels with using formal and informal resources. This thesis surveyed Arab-Americans to identify perceived barriers and comfort levels with IPV help-seeking. A culturally informed and centered approach was taken to examine connections between individual level factors, perceived barriers and comfort levels in using resources. To do so, I gathered data via an online survey with 82 Arab American participants. Findings suggest that participants perceived the greatest barriers to seeking help for IPV are related to how others view and understand Arab Americans (i.e., "There is a stigma in how outsiders view Arab Americans" and "I feel my cultural values would not be taken into consideration") and that they would be more comfortable seeking help from informal resources, such as a friend or member of their family, compared to formal resources, such as calling the police or going to a homeless shelter. Participants who felt more connected to their local Arab American community perceived more barriers to IPV help-seeking and said they would feel less comfortable using informal and formal resources if they ever experienced IPV. Empirical evidence from this study suggests that Arab Americans believe that they would face many barriers and would feel uncomfortable in using more formal resources if they ever experienced IPV. To address these issues, it is important that those providing IPV resources better understand how they are being perceived by the Arab American community, and take steps to reduce those barriers and increase comfort levels in the Arab American community in using their services.

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With the number of Chinese gay men affected by HIV rising annually and social media serving as popular information sources, this study aims to examine the information channels used by Chinese gay men to acquire safer sex knowledge and to test the effect of safer sex knowledge, information channel use, safe-sex communication with sexual partners on Chinese gay men's safer sex practices. Due to the sensitive topic and hard-to-reach population, a snowball sampling method was used to recruit eligible participants. Specifically, an online survey was designed and distributed to three LGBT-NGO-related WeChat groups. A total of 191 valid data points were used in the study. Different from previous studies on safer sex knowledge and safer sex practices, this study focused on a marginalized group and examined some of their unique information channels. Descriptive data reveal that social media platforms surpassed traditional channels (e.g., books, school, parents) becoming the most frequently-used channel to obtain safer sex knowledge. In addition, the findings revealed that even though Chinese gay men had high levels of sexual knowledge, they tended not to practice safer behaviors consistently. Chinese gay men also did not communicate with their sexual partners about their previous sexual relationship, HIV/STD testing and results. Regression analyses discovered that safer sex knowledge level and social media use for safer sex knowledge can predict condom use for anal sex. Surprisingly, social media use was associate with high-risk sexual behaviors such as not limiting sexual activity to only one person who only has sex with you. On the other hand, traditional channel use for safer sex knowledge was associated with HIV/STD testing behavior. Implications on health promotion on safer sex practices and HIV/STD prevention were discussed.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), maternal death ratios are severely racially stratified as African American women face the most significant risk. Currently, Black women are four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related death in the United States than white women. Race disparities in maternal health outcomes may be exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic as preliminary research suggests that the pandemic's disproportionate impact on Black communities and existing concerns about Black women's medical treatment may indicate an increase in mortality within the next few years. Racial health disparities reflect the nation's flawed maternal healthcare system and highlight a need for alternative healthcare models, including the increased use of doulas, who provide physical, emotional, and educational support during pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum. Research has shown that doula care effectively mitigates adverse perinatal outcomes for socially disadvantaged women and their infants. Black doulas have distinct knowledge and insights about how race operates in the maternity care system as birth workers who serve Black birthing women, however, there is little research illuminating their perspectives. The current study is a qualitative analysis of the perspectives of Black doulas on their experiences with birth work in the U.S. maternity health care system during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond using a critical intersectional lens. Data consist of in-depth, semi-structured qualitative interviews with 11 Black doulas throughout the U.S. Interviews were transcribed with the aid of Otter.ai and coded and analyzed thematically using NVivo. The results yielded four overarching themes: Advocacy and Trust are Key Components of Doula Work, Barriers to Accessing Doula Services and a Need for New Hospital Policies, COVID-19 Worsened Restrictions on Doula Work, and Increased Distrust of Hospitals among Black Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). The final theme focused on the History of Racism in Reproductive Health affects the Quality of Care Today and included a sub-theme regarding the Prevalence of Dismissive and Abusive Care. This study expands existing knowledge of race inequalities in maternal health by contributing the experiences and perspectives of Black doulas, who are uniquely positioned to observe Black patients' treatment in maternity care. Findings demonstrate a need for medical institutions to address systemic racism within their policies and procedures and highlight actionable solutions proposed by doulas to mitigate existing injustices.

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The main objective of this study was to determine the relationship between household characteristics and the expenditure shares allocated among various categories of women's clothing for U.S. households belonging to different ethnic groups. The study also estimated unobserved latent quality variables based on household characteristics, and examined the effects of the latent quality variables on the expenditure shares for the various apparel categories. A Multiple Indicator-Multiple Cause Model, which is a special case of the general Structural Equations Model, was used to estimate separate Engel equations for 15 expenditure shares for women's clothing categories, for four different ethnic groups. The results of the study showed that household characteristics had a significant impact on the latent quality variables associated with different categories of women's clothing, and the latent quality variables themselves impacted the clothing expenditure shares. Also, for different ethnic groups, household characteristics had differing effects on women's clothing expenditure shares. Of all the characteristics examined, annual total household expenditures and numbers of children and adults in the household had significant effects on the largest numbers of latent quality variables associated with the clothing categories for the four ethnic groups. The socio-economic variables also significantly affected several clothing expenditure shares for the four ethnic groups. These results imply that socio-economic variables impact consumers' quality choices, and presumably prices paid, for women's clothing. The results support the conclusions of Paulin (1998), and Wagner and Soberon-Ferrer (1990), in that different ethnic groups have distinct expenditure patterns possibly due to differences in socio-economic characteristics; such characteristics may signify resources and constraints faced by a household. The distinct expenditure patterns and tastes of the four ethnic groups are reflected in the significantly different effects of annual total expenditures on the expenditure shares for each category of women's clothing, as well as in the significantly different effects of the latent quality variables on several expenditure shares, for the four ethnic groups. / Ph. D.