The purpose of this project was to investigate whether there was a significant difference in the adherence to conventional morality and the reaction to social pressure from adults versus peers among Mexican, Mexican-American, and Anglo-American children. The instrument used was the Moral Dilemmas Test (MDT) developed by Bronfenbrenner, Devereux, Suci, and Rodgers, which measures the reported readiness of children to engage in morally disapproved behavior and their reaction to social pressure exerted by adults and peers. The subjects were asked to respond to a series of conflict situations under three experimental conditions of confidentiality, scrutiny by parents, and scrutiny by peers. The test was administered in the spring of 1979 to 441 Junior High School students from four Northern California school districts. Eighty-two tests were administered in Spanish and 359 in English. There were 60 Mexican students, 60 Mexican-American students, and 60 Anglo-American students, half of them boys and half of them girls, who were randomly selected on a stratified basis. The findings showed that there were significant differences in the responses of the three groups to the MDT. Mexican children were more reluctant to engage in morally disapproved behavior than both Mexican-American and Anglo- American children. Mexican- American responses to conventional morality fell between those of Mexican and Anglo- American children. Anglo- American children scored lowest in conventional morality. The group most affected by social pressure, or the one which showed the larger difference between the base and the two experimental conditions was the Mexican-American group. The responses of Mexican-American children in this respect were significantly different from those of Mexican children. The three groups were differently affected by adult and peer social pressure. Mexican children scored significantly higher than Mexican-American children in their conformity to adult social pressure. Mexican children scored significantly lower than Anglo-American and Mexican-American children in the extent of conformity to peer social pressure. There was a significant sex effect in the responses of all students to the MDTs girls scored significantly higher than boys, and sex differences were significantly more pronounced in the Anglo-American group than in the Mexican group. No relationship was found between language spoken at home by Mexican and Mexican-American children and their responses to the MDT, nor was any relationship found between length of residency of Mexican children in the United States and their responses to the MDT.

There is a growing number of Hispanics contracting the AIDS virus. Very little comprehensive culturally sensitive information is available to less acculturated Hispanics. Research has supported that the most effective channel of AIDS information is electronic media. Pamphlets and other print media appear to be an effective source of information for more acculturated literate Hispanics. The present study compared the effectiveness of two videos which differ in cultural sensitivity versus a control group to teach AIDS awareness to less acculturated Hispanics. Ninety (44 males and 46 females) Spanish speaking Hispanics were randomly assigned to the three groups. It was predicted that the more culturally sensitive video would be more informative and would reduce erroneous beliefs more than the standard factual, less culturally sensitive video. There were no significant differences found between the two video groups as measured by the AIDS knowledge questionnaire. Significant differences were found when the video groups were compared to the control group. Video groups scored higher on the AIDS knowledge questionnaire. Implications of the study are discussed.

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In 1994 Ethiopia introduced a federal system of government as a national level approach to intra-state conflict management. Homogenisation of cultures and languages by the earlier regimes led to the emergence of ethno-national movements and civil wars that culminated in the collapse of the unitary state in 1991. For this reason, the federal system that recognises ethnic groups¿ rights is the first step in transforming the structural causes of civil wars in Ethiopia. Against this background this research examines whether the federal arrangement has created an enabling environment in managing conflicts in the country. To understand this problematic, the thesis conceptualises and analyses federalism and conflict management using a qualitative research design based on in-depth interviewing and content-based thematic analysis ¿ taking the case study of the Benishangul-Gumuz regional state. The findings of the study demonstrate that different factors hinder the federal process. First, the constitutional focus on ethnic groups¿ rights has led, in practice, to lessened attention to citizenship and minority rights protection in the regional states. Second, the federal process encourages ethnic-based elite groups to compete in controlling regional and local state powers and resources. This has greatly contributed to the emergence of ethnic-based violent conflicts, hostile intergovernmental relationships and lack of law and order along the common borders of the regional states. Third, the centralised policy and decision making process of the ruling party has hindered genuine democratic participation of citizens and self-determination of the ethnic groups. This undermines the capacity of the regional states and makes the federal structure vulnerable to the dynamics of political change. The conflicts in Benishangul-Gumuz emanate from these causes, but lack of territorial land use rights of the indigenous people and lack of proportional political representation of the non-indigenous people are the principal manifestations. The research concludes by identifying the issues that determine the sustainability of the federal structure. Some of them include: making constitutional amendments which consider citizenship rights and minority rights protection; enhancing the democratic participation of citizens by developing the capacities of the regional states and correcting the organisational weakness of the multi-national political parties; encouraging co-operative intergovernmental relationships, and maintaining the territorial land use rights of the Benishangul-Gumuz indigenous people. / Addis Ababa University

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