<p> The epitome of psychoanalysis is the process of psyche integration&mdash;making the unconscious conscious. As such, the unconscious material holds that which is feared most, the unknown. Buried within the unconscious, the shadow is born; an eerie abyss of repressed emotions, unwanted memories, and forgotten fantasies. Accessing this material can be wearisome, even distressing, without skillful clinical support. This dissertation postulates using literature as conduit in a therapeutic setting to facilitate psyche integration and healthy psychological development. The foundation of depth psychology lends a perfect lens through which to view a literary work because of the emphasis for considering the presence of the unconscious. A hermeneutic research methodology and imaginal approach are used to discuss unconscious material derived from the textual themes and characters in selected works of Edgar Allan Poe. Poe&rsquo;s works provide an appropriate framework to hold shadow material as he utilized and personified psychological affects directly correlated to the shadow, and they still possess the ability to connect to their reader a century and a half after conception. The selected works for this dissertation analysis include: &ldquo;Ligeia&rdquo; (1838), &ldquo;The Fall of the House of Usher&rdquo; (1839), and &ldquo;William Wilson&rdquo; (1840). </p><p> <i>Keywords:</i> Edgar Allan Poe, shadow, literature, textual hermeneutic wheel, imaginal, depth psychology.</p>

The purpose of this research was to determine whether Native American and Hispanic women can preserve cultural identity in interracial marriages. Four women participated in this research: A Native American woman married to an Anglo; two Hispanic women married to Anglos; and a woman of Hispanic and Native American ancestry married to a Native American. Each participant provided information regarding the level of knowledge of family history, ancestry, language, traditions and practices. Primary research found social identity was another indicator, as the social setting in an environment affects stability and permanence of a cultural identity. The findings indicate preservation of cultural identity in future generations from interracial marriages depends upon a community that can articulate and pass on a level of knowledge of family history, ancestry, language, traditions and practices. Such a community will consist of one or both parents, family members, members of the community, and the children themselves.

This study utilizes national household income and expenditure data from Honduras, collected by the Honduran Central Bank in 1998--99, to examine two distinct health issues. First a tobit censored regression model is estimated to identify the variables that affect monthly household expenditures on health. This analysis is then used to examine income elasticities for health goods. Secondly, a nested bivariate probit model is used to study the socio-economic and demographic variables that influence a Honduran household's decision to seek health services attention when a household member is acutely ill and, consequently, how they then choose between public and private health services.

During the early 1920s, Old Colony Mennonites emigrated from Canada to Chihuahua, Mexico in order to continue their traditional ways of life in nearly isolated, agricultural communities. As their ancestors had done for centuries, they continued to live in opposition to "the world." While the Old Colony Mennonites basically succeeded in living their distinct, conservative ideology, economic necessities and real world opportunities caused internal disagreements, excommunications and the formation of a new, liberal church, the General Conference, among their midst. North American Mennonite and some European scholars have recorded the history, political economy, socio-religious organization, linguistic and cultural characteristics of these so-called "Mexican Mennonites." What their large-scale perspectives have failed to capture is the everyday lives of the cultural group, the lives of women in particular. Women's worlds have been invisible in the official discourse on Mennonite history, most of which is male-dominated. This dissertation explores the everyday lives of Mennonites in the colonies near Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua through Mennonite women's eyes. Women's multiple roles at the household level in times of health and illness, and women's moral identities are its focus. Women's habitus and discourses are central in perpetuating Mennonite gendered and moral identities. These identities, expressed in everyday moral living, are the foundation to Mennonite women's health work and local meanings of health. The ethnographic descriptions of women's lives demonstrate how ideology becomes operationalized, and the contrasting of existing literature with my findings exemplifies the articulation of ideology and gender. As an understanding of local Mennonite women's lives requires an appreciation of Mennonite history, socio-economic structure, and the values and norms reproduced by women during their everyday lives, this dissertation has a comprehensive, four-fold structure: Part I summarizes the history of the Mennonites near Cuauhtemoc and analyzes its representational politics; Part II lays out the anthropological processes of fieldwork and writing; Part III describes the contemporary everyday lives of Mennonite women with a focus on their gendered work, including health work, and socializing practice; Part IV discusses the socialization processes of Mennonite women, inherent challenges in Mennonite social structure, and the ways in which Mennonites cope with these challenges.

This study of 51 couples with one or two recovering alcoholic partners examined the daily communication practices and contextual variables as predictors of partner abstinence efficacy, relationship satisfaction, and well-being. A conceptual model based on a systems perspective was applied to male and female partners. 34 dual-alcoholic couples and 17 single-alcoholic couples recruited from A.A., Al-Anon, and two local treatment programs completed individual questionnaires and conjoint interviews in their homes at Time 1, and brief telephone interviews at 3 months follow-up. Results indicate that women and men differ in the ways they respond to circumstances in their recovery and in their relationships. For men, abstinence efficacy was linked to poor conflict management, negative talk among partners, sobriety length, and relationship satisfaction. Women's abstinence efficacy was linked to their emotional well-being, and changes in women's temptation to drink were predicted by poor couple conflict management, less positivity among partners, and less emotional disclosure in men. High levels of daily stress in men were related to both partners' daily communication, particularly men's conflict management and women's negative talk. Couples with less than 15 months of sobriety differed from couples with more than 29 months of sobriety in conflict management and stress in the last year. In all, communication practices and daily stress play important but differing roles in maintaining sobriety and relationship satisfaction in male and female partners. The model was partially supported by the data, but needs modifications to reflect dissimilar relationships among variables in male and female partners. Policy implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.

<p> Type I Diabetes (T1D) is one of the most common chronic illnesses in childhood. Supports can play a pivotal role in aiding families affected by chronic illness to cope (Gerhardt, Walders, Rosenthal, &amp; Drotar, 2006; Gavin and Wysocki, 2006); however, when attachment figures become unreliable and unsupportive, it can interrupt child outcomes (Charuvastra &amp; Cloitre, 2008; Feeney, 1999; Mikulincer, Shaver, &amp; Horesh, 2006; VanIjzendoorn, Goldberg, Kroonenberg, &amp; Frenkel, 1992).</p><p> Seven sibling-parent dyads of children affected by T1D were studied using the PedsQL to evaluate Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL), the CRIES-13 to evaluate post traumatic stress symptoms, the BASC to evaluate behavioral and emotional functioning, the LEAP to evaluate perception of caregiver availability, the MSPSS to evaluate the parent self-reported level of support, and the BSI to evaluate the parent social-emotional functioning. This pilot studied evaluated whether siblings mirrored past study results (Alonzo, 2000; Droter, 2006; Gerhardt, et al., 2003; Hollidge, 2001; Kenney, 2010; Landolt, et al., 2003; Lombardo, 2005; Newby, 1996; Sharpe &amp; Rossiter, 2002), and then proceeded to evaluate how HbA1c and parent-child factors may have impacted the sibling results.</p><p> This sample did not appear to be impacted by the level of HbA1c control or mirror prior chronic illness study demographics. Further, neither the parent's reported support level nor the siblings' perception of parental availability appeared to impact sibling outcomes. However, there was a significant relationship between sibling CRIES and mother's LEAP scores, as well as a post-hoc analysis relationship between the Child Total PedsQL score/PedsQL Family Impact score and siblings' qualitative indication of felt loss of attention to the T1D child and desire for more sibling support groups. Taken together, this study suggests that parent support variables may not be core to sibling outcomes for the T1D population; however, it is important to remember that significant results may have been masked due to the relative health of this particular sample and the low N, especially given the post-hoc analysis results. Future research on parent-child factors impacting sibling outcomes should occur, as it could generate new treatment protocols to better the lives of families impacted by T1D.</p>

<p> Research has shown that there can be a positive impact on the child&rsquo;s academic achievement when parents are closely involved with the child&rsquo;s schooling. When parents are involved in the school, they understand what is being taught in the classroom and are usually encouraged to extend the learning at home. When parents value education, students succeed. When parents are invested and show an interest in their child&rsquo;s school, they develop a sense of pride for the school and tend to support the school and teachers in their decisions. This cooperative attitude allows for better, open communication and a team attitude to develop amongst the school community. When children see parents, teachers, and administrators working together, they feel more positive pressure to do well. </p><p> When parents are not involved in their child&rsquo;s schooling, miscommunication, misunderstandings and problems arise. Parents do not understand or value what the school is teaching students, and children see the conflict as a barrier. Children typically mirror their parents&rsquo; beliefs and actions. Therefore, if a parent does not see the value in education, does not know what is being taught, and does not respect the school, administrators, or teachers, the child is likely to mirror those behaviors and attitudes. When this happens, students suffer academically. </p><p> The concern about parent involvement is not new. Many schools understand the importance of parental involvement, but struggle to find the time, resources, and activities to involve parents. Oftentimes, urban areas contain families that have unique obstacles that prevent such involvement. Many strategies need to be utilized in order to ensure that parents are not left out of activities or opportunities. </p><p> The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine the actions taken by one particular charter school district that led to intense parental involvement participation in an urban, metropolitan area. Understanding the obstacles that parents face when becoming involved was a starting point for the research. Understanding how the school utilized particular strategies to form solid relationships with families was vital to the study. Comparing administrator, teacher, and parent perceptions about the school&rsquo;s parental involvement concluded the research.</p>

This multi-method study explored the link between sports involvement during the high school years and sexual behavior/health among 176 adolescent women. The current study employed quantitative methodology to replicate the documented connections between sports involvement and adolescent women's sexual behavior and sexual/reproductive health, but used more sensitive and appropriate measures. Additionally, in part directed by cultural resource theory, the present study helped to fill a gap in the literature by exploring three potential explanatory mechanisms (i.e., mediators) in the above connections. Those mechanisms included: (a) functional body orientation; (b) self-empowerment/efficacy; and (c) sexual/reproductive health-related information/motivation via coach. Results from the quantitative data suggested that adolescent women's involvement in organized team sports was favorably associated with each of the following: (a) sexual risk-taking behavior, (b) sexual/reproductive health-seeking behavior, and (c) sexual/reproductive health. In addition, both adolescent women's functional body orientation and adolescent women's self-empowerment/efficacy emerged as mediators in the associations between adolescent women's sports involvement and adolescent women's sexual behavior/health. Thus, the current study suggests the potential for sports involvement to favorably influence adolescent women's sexual behavior/health and pinpoints key mechanisms that help to clarify the nature of that influence. The current study used qualitative methodology to explore the ways in which the adolescent women felt that their sports involvement influenced their lives and feelings about their bodies. In general, the sports involvement-derived outcomes that emerged from the adolescent women's written comments were positive, suggesting that the adolescent women felt that their sports involvement during their high school years was overwhelmingly beneficial. Potential implications of those outcomes for the sexual/reproductive health of adolescent women are discussed. Qualitative methodology also was used in the current study to explore adolescent women's experience of sexual/reproductive health-related coach talk. Based on the adolescent women's reports of their experiences of such coach talk, it appears that coaches might be one logical and effective avenue by which key sexual/reproductive health messages can be transmitted to adolescent female athletes. Implications for the development of sports and community programs focused on the prevention of teenage pregnancy and STDs are discussed.

High schools are key settings for adolescent development, yet life course scholars have not fully examined how schools shape transitions to adulthood. Schools are important for socializing youth, but most education research examines cognitive outcomes, like test scores, rather than behavioral outcomes, like welfare receipt. Theories about transitions to adulthood and the role of curricular tracking each focus on racial/ethnic differences, but there is little connection between the two areas of inquiry. This study explores racial/ethnic variation in the effect of curricular tracking on women's risk of young welfare receipt, and on behavioral outcomes I term the proximate causes of welfare --dropping out of high school, teenage motherhood, limited work experience, poverty, and single motherhood. In three distinct but theoretically connected essays, I study these relationships using a sample of black, Latina, and white women from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Chapter 2 examines racial/ethnic differences in the effect of college and vocational tracks on behavioral outcomes of schooling. College tracks reduce women's risk of experiencing the proximate causes of receipt, but these effects are much stronger for white women than for black and Latina women. Women of color have lower risks of each of the proximate causes in vocational tracks and racial/ethnic inequality is greatest in college tracks. Chapter 3 considers whether racial variation in the effects of tracking influences pathways to welfare receipt. Tracking shapes welfare dynamics, and racial inequality in these effects is greatest in the college track. Whites benefit more from college track placement while women of color benefit more from vocational track coursework. Tracking influences welfare risks primarily through effects on teen motherhood and dropping out of school. Chapter 4 explores a mechanism through which racial/ethnic differences in the effect of tracking might operate: an "attitude-achievement paradox." Women with high educational expectations and limited preparation for college (as indicated by test scores) are extremely likely to become teen mothers. African American women are most buffered from teen motherhood risks in the vocational rather than the general or college tracks. In each section, I discuss the important theoretical and policy implications derived from these results.

During the past two decades, major advances in the field of HIV/AIDS research have occurred. With advances in medications and treatments, children born with HIV/AIDS are experiencing greater life expectancies and beginning to enter the school systems. However, this new population of children with HIV/AIDS has a variety of new and unique needs that must be addressed by schools. Given the new needs, schools may have to re-examine present policies by eliciting the views of the people most affected by the policies. The purpose of the present study was to provide a preliminary opportunity for the families of children with HIV/AIDS to express their expectations and reservations in regard to school systems and policies related to disclosure. A multi-case study research design was used to learn more about the perspectives of four parents/guardians of school-aged children with HIV/AIDS. This study was intended to challenge the assumption that the issues facing families affected by HIV/AIDS today are the same as they were in the late 1980's and early 1990's by providing a voice to families of children with HIV/AIDS and recommendations for new policies.