Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2009. / Peggy Albers, committee chair; Diane Blecher, Gertrude Tinker Sachs, Mary Ariail, committee members. Title from file title page. Description based on contents viewed Nov. 10, 2009. Includes bibliographical references (p. 227-248).

BACKGROUND: Chronic pain is prevalent among millions of Americans and can negatively impact cognitive processes, mental health, and overall quality of life. Even though pain affects all ethnic and racial groups equally, studies have shown a growing disparity in pain intensity and prevalence of pain conditions among underrepresented minority adult populations across the United States. Hispanics are among the fastest-growing populations in the U.S., yet chronic pain in Hispanic adults and adolescents remains severely understudied. PURPOSE: This study aims to compare pain and related psychosocial factors (pain catastrophizing, anxiety and depression) and Fear of Pain Questionnaire scores (FOPQ) in Hispanic vs. Non-Hispanic White (NHW) youth with chronic pain. Based on prior literature from studies in adults, it was hypothesized that Hispanic youth would report greater pain catastrophizing, anxiety, depression, and higher FOPQ scores when compared to NHW youth. Further, potential differences in relations between anxiety, pain catastrophizing, and physical functioning on depression among Hispanic and NHW youth will be explored. METHODS: Participant data were gathered from the Boston Children’s Hospital Chronic Pain Data Repository. The current study sample included 116 children and adolescents, ages 12-18 years (M = 15.49, SD = 1.71) from Hispanic and NHW backgrounds. Both groups had the same proportion of participants who identified as female (88%), and samples used for analysis were age-and-sex matched. Independent sample t-tests were performed to compare the mean differences in pain catastrophizing, PROMIS anxiety and depression scores, and FOPQ sum score between groups. Bivariate correlations for each group were also compared, and Hayes PROCESS Macro was used to compare the associations between pain catastrophizing, anxiety, and physical functioning on depression, based across patient ethnicities. RESULTS: The results of independent samples t-tests did not reveal any significant differences across groups. However, significant correlations were found. Notably, PROMIS anxiety and depression t-scores were significantly correlated among each independent cohort of Hispanic youth (r = .612, p <.001), non-Hispanic White youth (r = .817, p<.001), and across the full sample (r = .719, p <.001). Pain catastrophizing was also found to be significantly and positively correlated with anxiety (r = .660, p<.001), depression (r = .582, p <.001) and patient FOPQ score (r = .740, p <.001) across both cohorts. From the moderation analysis, the association between pain catastrophizing and depression was found to be statistically significant based on ethnicity of patient [B = .0272, p<.05]. Similarly, ethnicity was found to significantly moderate the association between PROMIS anxiety and depression [B = .0340, p<.05]. CONCLUSIONS: This study is one of the first to explore how pain and psychosocial-related factors compare in an age-and-sex-matched cohort of Hispanic vs. NHW youth with chronic pain. The study is also novel in identifying patient ethnicity as a moderator between anxiety and pain catastrophizing on depression. Obtaining a significant correlation between pain catastrophizing, anxiety, and depression scores for both groups parallels previous findings in adult populations with chronic pain. Contrary to our hypotheses, no mean differences were found in variables associated with pain or psychosocial factors between the two groups, however it is possible that the small sample size used may have obscured group differences. The results highlight the need to increase diversity in research for pediatric populations with chronic pain to help reduce pain disparities among underrepresented minority youth populations.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) prevalence has grown 68% in that timeframe, and has risen to the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. Hispanics are at increased risk of acquiring cardiovascular risk factors that contribute to AD pathology and are minimally 1.5 times more likely at any age to be diagnosed with AD. Identifying the roots of this ethnic disparity can lead to more effective personalized health interventions. Aim: To compare indices of vascular health to measures of gray matter integrity in middle-aged Hispanic and Caucasian adults. As a secondary outcome, we will examine these health statuses in relation to cognitive function. Methods: Sixty subjects in Caucasian (n=30) and Hispanic (n=30) groups were matched across racial classification by age, gender, years of education, and cognitive status. Participants' arterial stiffness (carotid-femoral pulse-wave velocity and [beta]-stiffness index), arterial wave reflection (augmentation index), endothelial function (flow-mediated dilation), and atherosclerosis (carotid arterial wall intima-media thickness) were characterized. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) estimated cortical thickness in a priori cortical regions of interest known to be susceptible to vascular risk factors. Cognitive function was assessed with a comprehensive cognitive battery covering the domains of global cognitive function, language function, visuo-spatial abilities, memory function and attention-executive function. Results: Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) (p=0.02), Carotid artery [beta]-stiffness index (p=0.01), and augmentation index (Aix) (p=0.05) were significantly greater in Hispanics than in Caucasians. Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and flow-mediated dilation (FMD) were not different between the groups. Hispanics exhibited thinner left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) cortical thickness (p=0.04) with concurrently lower language (p=0.02), memory (p=0.03), and attention-executive functioning (p=0.02). Conclusion: Hispanics exhibited significantly greater cfPWV, Aix, and [beta]-stiffness index as well as selective cortical thinning of the LIFG. Additionally, language, working memory and attention-executive domains of cognition were lower in the Hispanic group compared to their age-, gender-, education- and cognitive status-matched Caucasian counterparts. These results may form a basis for future investigations that aim to explain the increased prevalence and earlier onset of symptoms of AD in the Hispanic population through cardiovascular health. / text

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This study examined the demographic characteristics of a sample of Hispanic students enrolled at a Southwestern university. In connection with these data, the analysis proceeded to delineate the relationship between some selected personal characteristics and the reasons that influenced their decision to enroll in higher education. It was found that Hispanic students that come to the university directly from high school and those that transfer from community colleges were very similar demographically, linguistically and academically speaking. Moreover, the reasons that influenced their decision to continue their education at the university level were identical. Those were: (1) Training in your career interest. (2) Overall training. (3) Quality of course instruction. (4) Professional competence of professors. (5) Expense of the institution. (6) Intellectual stimulation provided by climate. At a deeper level, there were four main factors that underlied the dimensions for their reasons to enroll in higher education. Those were: Factor I "Democratic environment and facilities", Factor II "Internal and external cultural features", Factor III "Academic quality of the institution" and Factor IV "Social life of the institution." The statistical results of whether there were sex, socio-economic and language differences with the four factors, showed that the interaction of sex and language background of the respondent had an effect on "Democratic environment and facilities." The effects of socio-economic index and the language spoken at home were found significant on "Internal and external cultural features." The best predictor for the four factors was the socio-economic index. Based on these results, it is recommended that research efforts be expanded to Hispanics in other geographical areas, other levels within higher education and to students of other ethnic groups.

No description available.

<p> The 1965 Immigration Act allowed a huge influx of new immigrants from Latin America, Asia, and the Caribbean, which extremely increased the levels of racial/ethnic composition of the U.S. society. Despite the fact that immigration from Europe to the U.S. has not stopped in this new era, the majority of research has focused on the labor market experiences of these nonwhite immigrants. New immigrant groups are also added to the white racial category as the U.S. Census Bureau started to refer "white&rdquo; to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. However, there is a shortage of academic research on the labor market experiences of these foreign-born non-Hispanic white immigrants, who differ in size, ethnic composition, socioeconomic background and geographic dispersion in the U.S. society. This research aims to fill this gap by examining whether or not earnings disparity exists between these immigrants and non-Hispanic US-born white Americans, and how much of this disparity is determined by the intersection of ethnicity and gender along with individual- and structural-level characteristics. </p><p> Applying multilevel regression models to the combined waves of data from the IPUMS and U.S. Census Bureau (1980&ndash;2010), the results show that earnings vary by ethnicity/gender, and there is significant earnings inequality between US-born white men and foreign-born white immigrants. Even more pronounced is significant gender earnings inequality within and between ethnic groups. Earnings gaps significantly vary across local labor markets, but much of the difference is determined by ethnicity/gender and individual-level predictors. Compared to temporal and regional context, local labor market context is not a major determinant of earnings achievement in the U.S. However, while the direct effects of local labor markets are trivial, they do have indirect effects on earnings through individual factors.</p>

This work is centered on the archaeological site of San José de las Huertas, occupied from 1765-1826 and excavated in 2002-2004. In my historical study of this 18th-century village, I draw upon archaeological evidence, archived documents, and oral historical accounts in order to explore processes of community formation and maintenance as they are revealed through the reciprocal relationship of structure and agency, otherwise known as structuration. Since the performance of social identity is a consequence of community creation, its investigation provides one means through which structuration may be accessed. Through the analysis and integration of the various lines of information, my research contributes to our understanding of the complex relationships that connect objects and places to people and community. Located in the northern Borderlands of New Spain, Las Huertas was one of several outpost communities established in the mid-1700s to deter American Indian raids on the capital and principal settlements of New Mexico. As a buffer settlement, the village was founded by people with diverse and complex personal histories. The landless colonists who established the community were comprised of families who considered themselves to be culturally Spanish as well as those who were labeled as genizaros (war captives taken from various native groups who were then placed as servants in the homes of Spanish settlers and missionaries). As such, the crafting of a local community and its accompanying identity amidst a diverse mix of ethnic, class, gender, and kinship relations was an important part of negotiating daily life on this frontier, where remote communities faced many challenges and hardships that were particular to their locations. The range of data sources utilized by this project illustrate that the community of Las Huertas was constructed through social discourses of difference and similarity among informed and strategic social actors as they navigated different contexts: that of the community itself, in their dealings with colonial administrators, in their contacts with the Pueblo and Spanish-American settlements that neighbored the village, and when nomadic peoples attacked their homes and property. Kinship, age, gender, and religion comprised the principal vectors of social identity crucial in community formation, while status and ethnic affiliation (as defined by casta categories) seemed to be of greater concern to colonial officials and clerics. Las Huertasanas' associations with their neighbors also tended to be shaped through kin networks, in addition to economic transactions. But it was membership within the community of Las Huertas that served to contextualize social identities as they were enacted in all situations.

This is an exploratory, descriptive study that examines perceptions of the helping experience taking the views of a group of Puerto Rican adolescents from Newark, New Jersey and comparing them with the views of a group of adult helpers also from Newark, New Jersey. The study samples are selected using a purposive, non-random approach. A major purpose of the study is to examine the impact that the ethnic background of a helper might have on congruence or dissonance of perception with a group of Puerto Rican teenagers. With this idea in mind the helper sample is quota selected yielding roughly even numbers of Black, Latino and White helpers. A major assumption of the study is that congruence of views between a helper and client will have a positive impact on the helping experience. The study first describes the demographics and perceptions of its adolescent subjects. It then goes on to describe the demographics and perceptions of its adult helpers employing tests of significance to do inter-group comparisons. Finally the demographics and perceptions of the Puerto Rican adolescent subjects in the study are compared with each of the adult groups. The study hypothesizes that the ethnic background of a helping person will have an impact on congruence or dissonance of views with an adolescent group. More particularly the study hypothesizes that the views of Puerto Rican adolescents will be closer to the views of helpers of their own ethnic background or at least to helpers of a minority background and further away from the views of non-minority helpers. An instrument using both scaled and open-ended items was developed based on an operationalized definition of the helping experience. Data elicited through the instrument is analyzed using frequencies, chi-square and tests of significance. Qualitative material, which is used supportively relative to the central issues of the study, is analyzed using an inspection technique. Outcomes suggest that the Puerto Rican adolescents in the study feel more positively about a helping experience than do any of the adult groups. They tended to be closer to the Latino helpers than to the Black or White helpers in their perceptions, particularly in negative self perceptions and perceptions of their communities. Generally, they were closer to Whites than to Blacks in their perceptions. Beyond these general findings an analysis of congruence and dissonance of views between the adolescents and adult helpers in this study presents a very mixed picture, suggesting that for the population in this study there is not a consistent, overriding pattern. The study does establish that for its subjects the ethnicity of a helper is of importance but not of major importance in a helping experience. Competence and human qualities of warmth and caring are equally important. The study strongly suggests the need for basic research having to do with a significant population at risk - Puerto Rican adolescents - and the development of supportive counseling programs that are capable of reaching this population.

There is an evident under-representation of Hispanic students in Gifted and Talented (GT) programs. This is due to several reasons including lack of valid instruments, biased standardized tools, biased teacher perceptions, and misinterpretation of tests scores among others. The need to develop and/or validate instruments that reflect students?? cultural backgrounds has become a priority in the U.S. today. The purpose of this study was to analyze the reliability and validity facets of the Hispanic Bilingual Gifted Screening Instrument (HBGSI) developed by Irby and Lara-Alecio (1996), more specifically, the split-half reliability and the concurrent validity when correlated to the Bilingual Verbal Abilities Test (BVAT). Participants were 527 students from two elementary schools in Texas. Students were administered the HBGSI in May 2003 and a reduced sample was administered the BVAT in the latter part of 2003 and the beginning of 2004. Results were analyzed, interpreted and discussed. The researcher found that the HBGSI has evidence of high reliability coefficients using Guttman, Spearman-Brown and Cronbach??s alpha ranging from .93 to .97. Concurrent validity was computed using Pearson correlation coefficient r =.39. Additionally, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted and revealed the existence of 5 factors. Among the primary limitations is the generalizability of the findings. Readers should use caution in applying the findings of this study to other settings and populations. Further research is recommended to establish the concurrent validity of the HBGSI with other achievement measures. In conclusion, there has been a contemporary move to the incorporation of inclusive screening instruments for use with language minority students. This movement suggests the inclusion of portfolio and performance assessment, checklists, and teacher observations in addition to standardized measures. The HBGSI has shown promising results in the arena of Hispanic gifted identification. This instrument is recommended to be used at the first stage of the screening process of potential Hispanic GT students. This study provided insight into the improvement of practices and identification of Hispanic bilingual students.