A review of the status attainment articles in the last few decades suggests that a major thrust has been to determine the crosscultural validity of the original Blau-Duncan model. Although the model has found considerable support in developed countries, evidence from less developed countries is inconclusive. One possible explanation has to do with the differences in the type of occupational structures within such societies. The Blau-Duncan model, having been developed in the U.S., may reflect status attainment processes well in societies with modern occupational structures but not very well in societies with traditional or intermediate occupational structures continuing side by side with the modern ones. Using survey data from a sample of 401 young men in Kano, Nigeria, this study examines whether the Blau-Duncan model fits the process of attainment of modern, traditional and intermediate occupations separately. The findings indicate that the fit of the Blau-Duncan model to the attainment of modern occupations is comparable to research in developed societies, but that it does not fit the attainment of traditional and intermediate occupations and that additional variables appropriate for the traditional society are needed. A modified model involving traditional status determinants provides a very good fit in predicting the attainment of traditional and intermediate occupations. The evidence suggests that variables and processes of attainment are likely to differ in societies which retain aspects of traditional occupational structures and stratification systems, and that this can help explain discrepancies in past research from less developed countries. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-04, Section: A, page: 1108. / Major Professor: J. Michael Armer. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994. / A review of the status attainment articles in the last few decades suggests that a major thrust has been to determine the crosscultural validity of the original Blau-Duncan model. Although the model has found considerable support in developed countries, evidence from less developed countries is inconclusive. One possible explanation has to do with the differences in the type of occupational structures within such societies. The Blau-Duncan model, having been developed in the U.S., may reflect status attainment processes well in societies with modern occupational structures but not very well in societies with traditional or intermediate occupational structures continuing side by side with the modern ones. Using survey data from a sample of 401 young men in Kano, Nigeria, this study examines whether the Blau-Duncan model fits the process of attainment of modern, traditional and intermediate occupations separately. The findings indicate that the fit of the Blau-Duncan model to the attainment of modern occupations is comparable to research in developed societies, but that it does not fit the attainment of traditional and intermediate occupations and that additional variables appropriate for the traditional society are needed. A modified model involving traditional status determinants provides a very good fit in predicting the attainment of traditional and intermediate occupations. The evidence suggests that variables and processes of attainment are likely to differ in societies which retain aspects of traditional occupational structures and stratification systems, and that this can help explain discrepancies in past research from less developed countries.

This dissertation examines the role of informal social support networks (family, friends, and mosque members) in the life satisfaction of the Egyptian elderly. Indicators of informal social support were frequency of interaction, and amount of support. / Participants were 60 elderly Egyptians from a senior center in Cairo, Egypt. Personal interviews were used to collect data. The data collection instruments were the Informal Social Support Questionnaire (National Survey of Black Americans, 1980), the Life Satisfaction Index-Z (Wood, Wylie, & Sheafer, 1969), and open-ended interview questions developed by the researcher. / Data were analyzed with univariate, bivariate, and content analysis. The quantitative analysis indicates that monthly income had a significant association with the level of life satisfaction of the Egyptian elderly. The qualitative analysis indicates that the Egyptian elderly were not only receivers but were also givers. Also the findings suggest that family is the most important source of support for the Egyptian elderly, followed by friends, and mosque members. / Based on the findings, implications for social work practice and research with the elderly in Egypt are discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-07, Section: A, page: 2547. / Major Professor: Shimon Gottschalk. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

The framework presented in this dissertation seeks to provide a comprehensive view of long-term care that can serve as a unifying structure. Under this framework, the context of long-term care is defined by the "reality structure," "client system determinants," and "mediating variables". Each of these elements represents a cluster of variables that may impact on the specific long-term care situation under consideration. / The reality structure includes those influences that may be conceptualized as values. These stem from the culture in which one lives, organizational structures, and the idiosyncratic experience of each individual. Client system determinants include those factors that operate at the level of the long-term care client system including demographic variation, impairment level, and individual subjectivity. Mediating variables include social resources, economic resources, formal system resources, and environmental moderators. These four subgroups--social resources, economic resources, formal service resources, and environmental mediators--form the larger block of mediating variables. Under the influence of the reality structure, the mediating variables interact with the client system determinants to provide an explanation for the multitude of formal and informal service patterns through which long-term care needs may be met. / In order to operationalize a portion of the reality structure used in this framework, a scale was developed to assess one's Attitude Toward the Provision of Long-term Care (ATPLTC). The reliability of this scale was established to be.86 using Cronbach's alpha. In addition, initial validation for the scale was demonstrated through the use of a variety of correctional techniques and factor analysis. / The ATPLTC was used to assess the relationship between caregiver attitude and several other characteristics. The relationships between attitude and caregiver status, educational level, race, employment status, subjective burden and relationship between caregiver and care receiver were found to be significant. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-06, Section: A, page: 1579. / Major Professor: Michael L. Frumkin. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

Thesis (M.A.)--Lehigh University, 2009. / Adviser: Judith Lasker.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: . Adviser: Steve Anderson. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-159) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

<p> Over the last several decades, Mexican origin immigrants have dispersed across the United States (Massey, Durand and Malone 2002). One community that has experienced particular growth in its Mexican origin population is Sunnyside, an agricultural city in the Yakima Valley. In this new destination community, Mexican origin families confront problems of gangs, violence, concentrated poverty and drug abuse, along with the challenges of surviving in a community that offers few pathways for mobility to Latinos. </p><p> In this study, I draw on 43 qualitative interviews and participant observer data to consider how Mexican origin parents, in two parent homes, go about the act of parenting in the context of Sunnyside. I query couples' parenting styles, with attention to how they develop aspirations for their children and to what models they use to inform their parenting. I look at how the structure of the community helps to perpetuate gendered parenting practices. Finally, I explore how these parenting approaches operate in the school system. </p><p> I argue that while much of the parenting that I observed deviates from that advocated by child development specialists (e.g. Baumrind 1968; 2012), the parenting was well designed to protect children from the particular forms of risk that were prominent in Sunnyside. The parenting was typically authoritarian and drew on models that families brought with them from Mexico. Other research on immigrant acculturation suggests this was probably an effective way to keep children safe by promoting selective acculturation (Portes and Rumbaut 2001; Zhou 1997). The parenting, however, was ill-designed to help the children to succeed educationally. Although parents wanted their children to get an education, they could offer little direct help to their children around educational tasks. Instead, they used discipline and engaged their children in physical labor to encourage the children to want to do well in school. This descriptive study helps to demonstrate how the characteristics of one particular new immigrant destination shape family life, parenting styles and children's life chances. </p>

<p> The present study identified and quantified five main barriers to treatment categories, deducted first from the qualitative dataset, then consolidated with the results of the quantitative dataset. Clinicians (<i>N</i>=36) that worked with youth and their families participated. The main findings suggested five parent themes (<i>practical obstacles, poor alliance with the therapist, therapist&rsquo;s perceptions, socioemotional, and cultural </i>) and seven concept groups (<i>transportation, financial, logistical, attendance, therapeutic relationship, lack of communication, and lack of engagement </i>). Implications provide strategies to ratify some of these barriers, such as gathering data on youth clients and their families. For the purposes of this study, the terms <i>children, adolescents</i>s, and <i> youth</i> will be used interchangeably and will be defined as any individual under the age of 18.</p>

<p> <i><b>Objective:</b></i> Intimacy is an essential part of marital relationships, spiritual relationships, and is also a factor in well-being. There is little research simultaneously examining the links among spiritual intimacy (defined as positive religious coping and a relationship with God), relational intimacy, and well-being. Data from the Adventist Health Study-2&rsquo;s Biopsychosocial Religion and Health Study (AHS-2 BRHS) were analyzed to first examine these links, and then to examine whether religious variables predict positive and negative perceptions of one&rsquo;s spouse.</p><p> <i><b>Design:</b></i> Structural equation modeling was used to examine associations among spiritual intimacy, relational intimacy, spiritual meaning, and well-being in a cross-sectional study of 5,720 married adults aged 29-100 years. Also, positive and negative spouse characteristics were regressed on control variables and 16 religious variables. This sample included 6,683 married adults aged 29-100 years.</p><p> <i><b>Results:</b></i> In the original structural model all direct associations between spiritual intimacy, relational intimacy, and well-being were significant and positive. With spiritual meaning as a mediating variable, the direct connections of spiritual intimacy to relational intimacy and to well-being became weakly negative. However, the indirect associations of spiritual intimacy with well-being were strongly positive through spiritual meaning. </p><p> Positive spouse characteristics were most strongly related to higher gratitude and lower negative religious coping; and negative spouse characteristics to greater negative religious coping and less gratitude. The higher participants rated their spouse&rsquo;s religiosity the better they rated their spouse. Conversely, the higher participants rated their own religiosity the worse they rated their spouse. For some religion variables there were gender and ethnic differences in prediction of spouse characteristics.</p><p> <i><b>Conclusion:</b></i> These findings suggest the central place of spiritual meaning in understanding the relationship of spiritual intimacy with marital intimacy and to well-being. They also suggest that individual religious variables have a strong association with how one views one&rsquo;s spouse, and thus need to be considered as important factors in relational intimacy. They also affirm the interplay of spiritual intimacy with relational intimacy and the need to consider both gender and ethnicity as contributing factors.</p>

<p> The context of this project is Community Outreach Ministry in Riverside, California, interviewing six families caught in the cycle of incarceration. The problem was no stories addressing the children's needs by the children of incarcerated parents existed in the literature. The objective included apprehending and analyzing fifteen stories in eight weeks. The hypothesis accepted the children's stories as a research tool informing interventions for breaking the cycle of incarceration. A qualitative research narrative case study was implemented. The findings tested that the qualitative insights from the stories informed the model and resources as effective interventions to break the cycle of incarceration.</p>

The present study examined both self and cross-partner associations between personal, moral, and structural commitment, maintenance behaviors, and relationship maintenance schema. Participants were both partners from 180 heterosexual couples in dating, engaged, and marital relationships who were between the ages of 18 and 35 years old with no children. Partners independently completed self-report questionnaires, which included measures of relationship commitment (Stanley & Markman, 1992), relationship maintenance behaviors (Canary & Stafford, 1992), and relationship maintenance schema (Sternberg, 1998). Results suggest that individuals' personal, moral, and structural commitment are associated with their own maintenance behaviors and that some maintenance behaviors, especially assurances, are also associated with their partner's personal, moral, and structural commitment. In addition, having a relationship maintenance schema which states that relationships require effort to be successful is positively related to maintenance behaviors. These results provide some support for Johnson's contention that the different types of commitment have different implications for relationship maintenance.