Adlerian theory of personality development cites personality priorities as beliefs that influence behavior. Priorities such as control and perfection, for example, are goals we strive for and act on. We determine our priorities early in life as means for accomplishing a sense of belonging. Since parents create the first interpersonal climate from which children learn to relate to others and life, this research investigates the part parents' personality priorities play in creating that family climate.

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The Mexican American population in the United States, as all other human groups, employ a number of strategies and practices in order to ensure the maintenance and continuation of its members. These strategies are culturally derived, and they have been created by the interaction of people's practices with the social, economic, and political forces of the larger environment. Mexican American culture is reproduced across generations through the enactment of historically constituted social practices or funds of knowledge. These practices are "acted out" by actors within the domain of the household or the family in its relation to the capitalist system. In order to understand cultural reproduction in the Mexican American community, the structure and operation of four households were examined. The practices used by people to meet household members' sustenance, shelter, education, household management, and emotional/psychological needs are explored. Household members practices were divided in three domains: economic, social/recreational, and ceremonial/religious. In a sense then, Mexican Americans are enculturated by carrying out activities appropriate to the immediate cultural setting. In this social setting, children learn appropriate ways of behaving by interacting with other people whom, through verbal and nonverbal ways, teach them the norms appropriate to their cultural group. In addition, children spend a great part of the day in another setting (the school). This setting, as part of the larger environment, influences household members practices, but the institution is affected in return. The interplay of these factors affects students' academic achievement.

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abstract: Home visitation programs are growing in popularity for a variety of social concerns including early childhood abuse and neglect. Healthy Families Arizona (HFAz) uses the home visitation format to deliver early-childhood development and parenting skills for at-risk parents with the goal of decreasing incidents of child abuse and neglect (Daro & Harding, 1999). Some research demonstrates that the strength of the worker’s alliance with parents can be significantly predictive of home visitation program completion and decreases in depression for participating mothers, but these findings have little replication (Girvin, DePanfilis, & Daining, 2007). It is important to have a clear understanding of worker-client alliance and how it affects maternal outcomes including program retention and completion so that those working with home visitation interventions can implement programs from an evidence-based perspective, thus increasing efficiency and efficacy of programs. This study hypothesizes a significant relationship exists between Working Alliance Inventory (WAI) scores and Healthy Families Parenting Inventory scores, and that WAI scores predict maternal outcomes from the HFPI. Bivariate correlation analysis determined a significant positive relationship exists between WAI scores and home visitation completion rates (r=0.320, p= .042), and found no other significant relationships. Regression analysis found WAI scores are predictive home visitation completion. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Social Work 2015