The purpose of this thesis was to examine children's perceptions toward teachers, as related to the child's social class background, and to investigate the influence of social class upon their perceptions. A projective pictorial test, which consisted of nine pictures concerning teachers and children, was administered individually to forth fourth grade school children in two Ogden, Utah, public schools. The findings of this study were that there are differences between middle and lower-class children in their perceptions toward teachers. Children of middle-class backgrounds showed more positive perceptions toward teachers, and lower-class children were found to have a more negative perception of teachers.

Many factors affect the growth, nutrition, health and general well being of school children. It is necessary to secure data in order to study these factors and to determine, if possible, their relative merit. The purpose of this study was: first, to collect, tabulate and analyse data which would add information to the knowledge of seasonal height weight variations in growth of school children; second, to study the seasonal diet as a possible factor in influencing seasonal growth; third, to study the food and health historics and dietary habits of these children; fourth, to determine their present physical condition as shown by dental and medical examinations.

In this Master’s thesis, I describe a study to understand the role that sexual communication plays within committed couple relationships. I collected data from 142 couples who completed an online survey consisting of a battery of quantitative assessments measuring relationship satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, communication processes, and sexual communication. Using dyadic data analysis within path analysis, I observed the significant paths of influence that different types of sexual communication has within couple relationships. Findings revealed that couples who discussed sex more were more likely to be relationally and sexually satisfied. I also observed the differences in sexual communication and general communication due to the differences in their associations with sexual and relationship satisfaction, respectively. With these analyses I expand the current literature to broaden and deepen our understanding of the role that sexual communication plays in committed relationships.

This research examined husband and wife attitudes toward menstruation and how these attitudes related to certain behaviors within marriage. The sample consisted of 48 Married couples, some living in Davis, California and some living in Salt Lake City, Utah . Specifically, four objectives were persued: Assess husbands' and wives' perceptions of how behaviors within marriage vary over the wives' menstrual cycles. Assess husbands' and wives' attitudes toward menstruation. Examine how husband's and wives' attitudes toward menstruation might be associated with perceptions of how behaviors within marriage vary over the wives' menstrual cycles. Examine how wives' perceptions of differences in behavior over the menstrual cycle are associated with their reporting of perceived menstrual symptomology. It was discovered that husbands and wives had varying attitudes toward menstruation and these attitudes were related to their reporting of the occurrence of certain male and female behaviors within marriage. Husbands and wives who had more stereotypic attitudes toward menstruation reported greater behavior change in themselves and their spouses due to menstruation within marriage than those who had less stereotypic attitudes . In addition. the wives' reporting of menstrual symptomotology was related to their reporting of behavior change in marriage due to their menstrual period. Women who reported the greatest menstrual symptomotology also reported the greatest amount of behavior change within marriage due to menstruation.

This study was devised to determine the readiness of preschool children to learn about basic concepts of nutrition. Sixty preschool children enrolled in the Utah State University Child Development Laboratory, comprised the sample. Twenty children were taught at home by parents, 20 were taught at the Laboratory, and 20 received no instruction. The curriculum 1 was based on the concept of nutrient density and used the Index of Nutritional Quality (INQ) in developing instructional mate rials. INQ is an index for comparing the amount of nutrients to the amount of calories in a food. Food Profile Cards, visual representations of this information for non-reading preschoolers, were the main teaching tools. Findings indicate that preschoolers are capable of learning about nutrition using the INQ concept. Mean comparisons of pre and posttest scores on a 12-item nutrition test were significant in the classroom and home-taught groups. Children in either treatment condition improved at significant levels in ability to recognize foods, identify nutrients in foods, and identify nutrient functions in the body.

The purpose of this study was two-fold. The first intention was to identify a group of debtor characteristics that predicted discharge among Chapter 13 bankruptcy filers in the district of Utah from 1997. The second objective was to use that same set of characteristics to predict the likelihood of dismissal at three critical stages of the bankruptcy process. Those stages were identified, first, as the period before the 341 hearing or meeting of creditors (n = 115 or 12.7%), second, before confirmation of the debtor's repayment plan (n = 267 or 29.4%), third, the period after confirmation of the plan and before discharge (n = 286 or 31 .5%). Once the best group of characteristics was discovered, the effects of demographic characteristics were compared against those of economic debtor characteristics as predictors of the outcome of the Chapter 13 cases. The results of the study show that demographic characteristics were, in general, better predictors than economic factors of the disposition of the Chapter 13 cases within the sample. Discharged and dismissed debtors were found to have statistically significantly different levels of certain types of debts based on pairwise t-test results. Although limited to one district, this study was the first to examine the likelihood of dismissal at three stages of bankruptcy prior to discharge. The study concluded that single debtors, debtors with children, debtors with previous bankruptcies, and those with higher levels of mortgage arrears were the most likely to be dismissed before completion of their repayment plan. Plan completion was generally achieved by those with higher job tenure and debtors with a mortgage. The results of the study support arguments against changes in current bankruptcy law and warrant further investigation of low Chapter 13 repayment plan completion rates in the district of Utah.

Participants for this investigation were 146 kindergarten teachers and 436 parents of kindergarteners in Davis and Weber School Districts. Self-administered questionnaires were utilized, 1) to determine if teachers, mothers and fathers believe that parents could do more to prepare children for kindergarten, 2) to delineate what each group believes parents can do, 3) to investigate what mothers and fathers have done in preparing their children for kindergarten, 4) to explore what skills teachers, mothers and fathers credit as most important for children to possess upon kindergarten entry, and 5) to examine what skills these three groups feel should be emphasized in the kindergarten curricula. A variety of statistical analyses were used to compare teachers', mothers' and fathers' responses to the above questions. Major findings suggest that teachers differ significantly from do mothers and fathers in believing that parents could do more to prepare children for kindergarten. Additional differences were found in the nature of what the three groups felt parents could do, with parents mentioning intellectual skills significantly more often than teachers. Results also suggest that mothers more than fathers indicate that they take an active role in preparing their children for kindergarten. Teachers, mothers and fathers generally agree about which skills children should possess when they go to kindergarten. Listening, feeling confident, and following directions were found to be ranked highest in importance with writing and reading skills perceived as least important. All three groups held similar attitudes toward the kindergarten curricula, holding that a wide variety of skills are important and should be emphasized in kindergarten programs. The implications of current findings for parents and teachers are discussed.

Childhood immunization is acknowledged as being a crucial health intervention for children. Immunization rates of children may vary depending on their parents' knowledge and attitudes about the issue. The focus of this study is on parents' knowledge and attitudes about immunization, and employs Urie Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory. A questionnaire was administered to 233 parents in India to explore the issues of parental immunization knowledge and attitudes. Correlates of parental knowledge and attitudes that were explored included gender, education, respondents' immunization status, and children's immunization status. Sources of parental knowledge about immunization were also examined. Overall, parents in this sample had a high level of awareness and positive attitudes about immunization. Parents' knowledge about immunization was correlated with their attitudes on immunization. Gender was correlated with parents' knowledge about immunization, but not their attitudes, with females having greater awareness about immunization than males. Parental education, parental immunization status, and children's immunization status were positively correlated with both knowledge and attitudes about immunization. Doctors and health care settings were the major sources of information abo ut immunization for parents in this sample. Implications for research, policy, and education are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes of children toward the dental visit. A group of children who had undergone dental treatment with the use of nitrous oxide-oxygen served as the experimental group while children who had received dental treatment without the use of nitrous oxide-oxygen served as the control group. Attitudes toward the dental experience among these two groups were compared to determine any differences or similarities due to the type of treatment used. Data were also collected on the parents of the children to determine whether the child's attitude toward the dental visit tended to reflect the attitude toward dentistry as expressed by the accompanying parent. Forty- five children between the ages of four and ten years old were asked t o identify a hypothetical child depicted in three specific situations as being either "Happy" or "Sad." The three situations were defined as follows : (1) A child coming from the ice cream shop, (2) A child who just cut a finger, and (3) A child just leaving the dentist's office. The parents in this study were asked to rate their anxiety related to visiting the dentist as being either ( 1) very relaxed, (2) generally relaxed, (3) generally anxious, or (4) very anxious. No significant difference was established between the nitrous oxide-oxygen children and the nonnitrous oxide group in relation to their attitudes toward the dental experience. No significant relationship was noted between the child's attitude and the respective parent's attitude in relation to the dental visit. A significant relationship between the boys and the girls was noted in the "Happy" classification group when the sex of the child was compared to the child's point of reference as given in the hypothetical dental situation.

A vast majority of individuals involve themselves in an intimate relationship at one time or another. This studly looks at a new, but increasing, forum of relationship development, that of the Internet. More specifically, this study addresses various stages of Internet relationship development, and deception individual 's use during the process of forming and maintaining these relationships. This research gathered quantitative and qualitative information from 134 individuals involved in online relationships. The quantitative analyses provided only a few significant findings and it is suggested that the current methods of measuring deception are inadequate and do not appear to represent the types of deception that may be employed by those developing relationships on the Internet. The qualitative findings indicate that over half the people in this study report using deception in their Internet relationships and there appear to be different motivations for doing so.