Although Latinos are the largest minority group in the country, research examining how different psychological and cultural variables affect Latino individuals' wellbeing is disproportionately developed and cross-cultural comparison studies are particularly scarce. To address these issues, this dissertation research examined cross-cultural adult attachment-social self-efficacy-psychosocial wellbeing conceptual mediational model while investigating the moderator effects of country membership and familismo on the proposed mediational model using a cross-cultural sample of Mexican and Mexican-American university students. A total of 595 participants, including 360 Mexican students from Mexico and 235 Mexican-American students from the United States completed the research questionnaires. Results indicated that social self-efficacy was a significant mediator for the effects of insecure attachment on life satisfaction and conflict resolution in both cultural groups and for the links between attachment insecurity and depressive symptoms in the Mexican-American group. Additionally, moderated mediation analyses showed that country membership was a significant moderator for the links between attachment avoidance and social self-efficacy when life satisfaction, conflict resolution style, and depressive symptoms were the dependent variables, as well as for the direct link between attachment anxiety and physical health symptoms. Familismo was also found to be a significant moderator for the direct effects of attachment anxiety on physical health symptoms and life satisfaction in both groups. Findings are discussed from the attachment and cross-cultural perspectives. Counseling implications, limitations, and future research directions are offered.

Mexican Goodbye is a collection of poetry that interrogates the dichotomy of a family fractured in conjunction with a speaker's coming of age. The collection reckons with divorce and the subsequent dissolution of the speaker's Mexican American family. Individual poems deal with sisterhood, daughterhood, Chicanismo, grief, the intergenerational impact of the immigrant experience, and inherited trauma. The titular poem illustrates the typical Mexican goodbye, a Latine despedida which can last hours, extended by continued chisme and prolonged conversation. It is this cultural phenomenon that the collection endeavors to encapsulate by lingering in narrative, listing childhood experiences, and allowing the speaker to yearn to return and remain in the past. Ultimately, the speaker desires to linger in the farewell.

Master of Arts / Department of History / Charles W. Sanders / On September 13, 1950, in a culmination of three years of efforts by organizations and individuals inside and outside the Harry S. Truman administration, 69 captured battle flags from the Mexican-American War were formally returned to the Mexican government at a ceremony in Mexico City. The events surrounding the return of flags to Mexico occurred in two distinct phases. The first was a small, secretive, and largely symbolic return of three flags conceived and carried out by high-ranking U.S. government officials in June 1947. The second large-scale, public return of the remaining flags in the custody of the War Department was initiated by the American Legion and enacted by the United States Congress. Despite their differences, both returns were heavily influenced by contemporary events, primarily the presidential election of 1948 and the escalation of the Cold War. Also, although the second return was much more extensive than the President originally intended, it was only through his full support that either return was accomplished. In the decades since 1950, historians have either ignored the return of Mexican battle flags or focused instead on Truman’s wreath laying at the monument to the niños héroes in Mexico City in March 1947. This study, for the first time, provides an in-depth description of the efforts to return captured Mexican battle flags and explains why these war trophies were returned while others have remained in the United States. The goal of this investigation is to present the efforts of the Truman administration for what they truly were: an unprecedented act of international friendship. Although the actions of the U.S. government and private organizations were partially influenced by self-interest and Cold War fears, their primary motivation was a sincere desire to erase the painful memories surrounding the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848 in an effort to improve future relations between the two countries. Many historians point to the Truman administration as the end of the Good Neighbor Policy toward Latin America. This study, however, argues that the return of captured Mexican battle flags represents the true pinnacle of the United States’ Good Neighbor Policy toward its southern neighbor.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Kay A. Taylor / This qualitative multiple participant case study examined Mexican American women‘s experiences at the intersection of race and gender in public high school. Mexican American women‘s experiences cannot be isolated and described independently in terms of either race or gender. The intersection of race and gender for Mexican American women has not been investigated fully. The few studies that include Mexican American females focus on dropouts and emphasize at risk factors such as gender, race, socioeconomic status, and language. Consequently, the gaps in the empirical literature are caused in part by the shortage of research on Mexican American women and the propensity toward examining Mexican American women from the deficit perspective. Critical Race Theory was the framework for the analysis and the interpretation in this study. The significant findings of this research support CRT, in that racism is prevalent and ordinary in the daily the lives of Mexican American females. The findings of the study included: First, racism is endemic and pervasive in public education. Second, colorblindness is the notion from which many educational entities operate. Third, the participants perceive social justice as the solution to ending all forms of racism and oppression. Finally, navigating the system is necessary to learn to be academically successful. The results contribute to the limited research on Mexican American women at the intersection of race and gender and the racism experienced in public high school to the overall CRT research in education, and in particular, to LatCrit research.

In an attempt to narrow a perceived gap between two literary fields, this thesis provides a comparative analysis of Luis Alberto Urrea’s The Humminbird’s Daughter, and Leslie Marmon Silko’s Almanac of the Dead. I explore and critique the ways in which Luis Alberto Urrea mobilizes mestizaje and Chicana/o nationalist rhetoric. I argue that mestizaje stems from colonial representations that inscribe indigenous people into a narrative of erasure. Furthermore, I address Leslie Marmon Silko’s critique of mestizaje within Almanac of the Dead. / text

The study was concerned with the testing of a modified causal model of college anticipation and attendance for a nationwide sample of Puerto-Rican and Mexican-American high-school seniors. The key problem of this study was defined on the basis of two fundamental criteria. The first states that social-structural and social-psychological components of sociological theory can provide basic information needed to comprehend the educational aspirations and achievement behaviors of Hispanic youth in the United States. The second theoretical tenet of this study was that the logic of the modified Wisconsin Model of status attainment can be understood as a common process that applies to all sectors of the American system of stratification and mobility. The data used in this study were extracted from the High School and Beyond: A National Longitudinal Study for the 1980s (HSB) and its First Follow-Up. Path coefficients associated with the direct and indirect effects were used in attempting to explain the variance in postsecondary educational plans and attainments of the subjects. A summary of the most significant findings, using the aforementioned data follows. The analysis of the educational attainments for the two ethnic group subsamples shows no statistically significant difference when the two samples are classified by gender. The recursive causal model used in this analysis is not completely successful in explaining the variance in the dependent variables (postsecondary educational plans and attainments) of both Mexican-American and Puerto-Rican high-school seniors. As a result, only about one-fourth of the degree of change in postsecondary educational plans and less than one-half of the variability in the level of educational attainments are accounted for by the antecedent variables. Present results reduce the impact of some of the social-psychological intervening variables on the level of educational plans of Hispanic adolescents. On the other hand, the role of objective variables (academic achievement and socioeconomic status is magnified. The influence of some of the objective variables on the process of educational attainment is also noticeable.

This investigation attempted to answer the following research questions, based upon student participation in "hands on" television production activities: (1) What shifts in the students' perceived acceptance of themselves occurred, (2) what shifts in the students' perceived acceptance of others occurred, and (3) what shifts in the students' perceived acceptance of school occurred? In seeking answers to the above three questions, the investigator located seven volunteers from a high school dropout retrieval program. As it developed, all of them were of Mexican American heritage. This investigation was based upon a theoretical framework drawn from perceptual psychology, education, and television. The framework consisted of television as a perceptual experience tending to effect acceptance of self, others, and school. A small n research design with multiple measures was used during this investigation. Data were collected with a student self-report measure using a modified Likert-type response mode. Qualitative data were collected from student interviews and investigator observations recorded as fieldnotes. The research results indicated no significant patterns in acceptance of self and others as a group. The qualitative data revealed the variety of individual shifts in acceptance of self, others and school. Certain unanticipated results occurred because the participants were Mexican American. These included cultural-related observations. The data indicated that "hands on" television production activities involve "learning in context" processes which might have important implications for dropout retrieval programs. The investigator recommended further "learning in context" TV or video studies with multicultural groups of students.

Environmental issues are often complex with many different constituents operating according to a broad range of communication techniques. In order to foster negotiations, different perspectives need to be articulated in lucid ways sensitive to various viewpoints and circumstances. In my thesis I investigate how certain approaches to environmental discourse effect dialogue and negotiation. My first two chapters focus on environmental problems surrounding rangeland ecology along the U.S./Mexico border; whereas the last two chapters explore more theoretical conflicts concerning the philosophy of nature. Throughout the thesis I show the significance of nonhumans (prairie dogs, cattle, biological assessment sheets, environmental laws, etc.) in the human community. Only by considering the roles of nonhumans do we broaden and enrich the conversation between ourselves concerning environmental issues.

Diabetes has alarming prevalence rates not only in the U.S., but also worldwide. Ethnicity plays a large role with Hispanic-Americans having one of the highest prevalence rates. Diabetes is a complicated disease that requires significant lifestyle modifications. The health belief model (HBM) has been investigated as a theory to explain behavior change. However, little research has been done to determine its utility to Mexican-Americans. In the current study, participants were Mexican-American adults (N = 66) with type II diabetes who were recruited from family medicine clinics. Self-report questionnaires included the General Acculturation Index (GAI) and the Multidimensional Diabetes Questionnaire (MDQ). Participants had the option to complete them in either Spanish or English. Laboratory values were collected from medical charts. A MANCOVA indicated that two variables were significant, perceived severity (PS) and misguided support behaviors (MSB), p < .05. With respect to the HBM, PS was identified as a component of an individual's perception, acculturation was a modifying factor, and MSB was a component of the likelihood to change factors. These three affected glycemic control. Odds ratios determined that individuals with better glycemic control had less perceived severity and less misguided supportive behavior. Individuals with the least acculturation were more likely to have best glycemic control. Significant results were found for each of the three main columns of the model suggesting that the HBM has utility for the Hispanic-American population with type II diabetes. Results suggest that health care personnel should be aware of the ramifications of patients' perceived severity of their illness as well as the amount the "nagging" type support they receive from friends and family on glycemic control. This awareness can lead to the development of interventions aimed at improving glycemic control and the quality of life in Mexican-Americans with diabetes. Specifically, programs focused on incorporating the family may lead to improved psychosocial and educational outcomes since familial relationships are crucial in this population.

The problem of this study was to determine the extent to which certain characteristics of teachers of first-year algebra were related to a) their pupils' attitudes toward algebra and b) their pupils' achievements in algebra. An additional aspect of the study was to ascertain and study the differences between Anglo- and Latin-American pupils' attitudes and achievements in algebra.