The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of demographic variables on the career maturity of high school students. The study intended to determine the influence of race and socioeconomic status on career maturity. Multiple intercorrelations and regressions among the dependent variable, Career Maturity Inventory Scores (CMI), and the independent variables of socio-economic status, students' career aspirations, students' career expectations, students' post-high school plans, parents' career expectations, parents' career aspirations, parents' post-high school plans, and race were computed. Regression weights for each independent variable were also computed. The Career Maturity Inventory (CMI) and a Demographic Information Inventory (DII) were administered to two hundred and eighty high school students enrolled in a high school located in the southwestern section of the United States. Instrument administration was conducted within their regular classroom by the main investigator. The final sample consisted of seventy students from each grade (9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th) and Mexican-American students and Anglo-American students were proportionally represented at each grade. A factorial analysis of variance was computed to determine the influence of SES and race on career maturity. Multiple regression analyses were utilized to examine multiple correlations among the dependent and independent variables and to establish the regression weights for each independent variable. Results demonstrated that race and SES have a statistically significant impact on career maturity. The multiple regression analysis revealed that the best predictor of career maturity for the entire sample were the students' post-high school plans, race, and the students' career expectations. The sample was divided into two ethnic groups to determine the best predictors of career maturity for each ethnic group. The multiple regression for the Anglo-American sample revealed that the students' post-high school plans was the only statistically significant predictor of career maturity. In contrast, the students' post-high school plans and parents' career expectations were the two factors found to be of significant importance for the Mexican-American group. The salient feature of these analyses is that socio-economic status is a poor predictor of career maturity for both ethnic groups. Implications of the findings are discussed and future trends regarding the assessment of career maturity are outlined.

The purpose of this life history is to describe and evaluate the public career of Dr. Maria L. Urquides, a Mexican American woman who has held a number of distinguished offices in local, state, and national education organizations, and who has distinguished herself as a productive citizen of her community for over half a century. To describe and evaluate Dr. Urquides' public career, I traced her intellectual development and ascertained the extent to which her development reflected the dominant social and intellectual climate of the past sixty years. The investigation proceeded on the basis of a three-part theoretical framework drawn from the literature of history, anthropology, and psychology. The theory included the following: (1) review of biographical studies, (2) review of cultural pluralism ideologies; and (3) interpersonal perceptual approaches to behavior. The material for the subsequent chapters which treat Maria Urquides' life come from twenty sources: (1) ten interviews I held with her in 1984-85, (2) twenty interviews held with her family, friends, and colleagues; (3) historical documents and newspaper articles, and (4) personal memorabilia. Dr. Urquides' developmental years are treated in Chapter Four, a section which contains family history and background, as well as her years of education through college. Chapter Five provides the reader with a look at Dr. Urquides as a young teacher and social advocate. Chapter Six covers the local, state, and national recognition received in part to her efforts in the passage of the Bilingual Education Act. The seventh chapter follows the untiring efforts of her continued community involvement. Among the key conclusions which emerged from this study are these: (1) that Maria had a strong "mentorship" system through her parents as well as through elementary and high school teachers; (2) that Maria retained strong cultural ties with her Hispanic background; (3) she was a truly bicultural person; (4) Maria exhibited strong coping skills. Many criticized her methods of coping, but not her results; (5) Maria maintained a positive attitude in life, always turning obstacles into challenges; (6) Maria gained leadership skills through her involvement and participation.

This dissertation explores the educational history of Mexican Americans in Arizona. It focuses on the post World War II activism of Tucson Mexican Americans who challenged educational policies, practices, and programs such as segregation, Americanization, and language restriction. These practices shaped Mexican American education for much of the twentieth century. Beginning in 1950, Mexican American men and women engaged in grassroots activism by participating in multiethnic, multifaceted coalitions to challenge educational inequalities and promote meaningful educational reform between 1950 and 1990. Their efforts led to the passage of local, state, and national educational reforms, including the repeal of school segregation state laws, the implementation of Spanish-for-Spanish-speakers and bilingual-bicultural education programs, and the enactment of the federal Bilingual Education Act of 1968. In 1974, Mexican American parents filed a joint lawsuit with Black parents against Tucson School District No. 1, the largest district in the state, charging the district with de jure segregation of Mexican American and Black students. I assert that Mexican Americans promoted institutional reforms from the bottom up that would not only provide Mexican-origin children with equal educational opportunity, but would also meet the community's needs based on their own definition of equity. In doing so, Mexican Americans not only contested their subordinate status in the dominant society by directly challenging the traditional stronghold that Anglo Americans had on the public education system, but they also helped to advance the quest for educational equality and civil rights.

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This final report documents the theoretical development and preliminary empirical testing of a model that predicts the conditions under which Hispanics will seek preventive health care. Research shows that Hispanics delay preventive care, resulting in higher morbidity and mortality rates for serious diseases such as cancer. Since many serious diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer can be prevented or treated more effectively if detected early, it is crucial to understand the motivating forces behind Hispanics’ preventive health behavior. The Hispanic model, which is an extension of the Health Behavior in Cancer Prevention Model developed by Atwood, et al. (1986), includes as core variables environmental barriers to access and English-language proficiency, as well as social support, health beliefs, self-efficacy (or perceived skill), health locus of control, and health values. This correlational descriptive study employed snowballing sampling methods and consisted of 199 Hispanics between 49 and 94 years of age. Measures consist of multi-item scales whose content follows that of the Parent Project. The final instruments showed reliability (Alphas between .69 and .95), although the model testing was limited by the exclusion of some constructs that did not demonstrate reliability. The outcome of predisposition to self-care was predicted by utilization barriers to care, Chance Health Locus of Control, and General Health threat, resulting in an R-square of .07. The findings dealing with dietary preferences and preferred dietary modifications also have great implications for interventions aimed at preventing colon cancer among Hispanics. The practical health policy applications of the model are also discussed.

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Illegal Immigration: Six Stories from an American Family is a collection of stories derived from and inspired by the author's personal life experiences, dreams, and family history, as a Mexican American woman. The stories also hold distinct archetypal patterns, images, storylines and symbolism due to the author's connection to the collective unconscious through meditation. The stories tell character driven stories of adversity, and the search for home, and identity by linking main characters to their family members in each story. The collection as a whole reveals generational patterns, histories and connections not only present in the matriarchal bloodline of the collection, but from one human to another. The stories beckon the reader into an alternate reality created by these archetypal patterns inherent in all humans, in an attempt to transcend genres and find a place within the psyche where anything is possible. / Illegal immigration -- Marco and Margarita -- La muerte de mi padre -- Together again -- Vivi and Ricardo -- The healer. / Department of English

By examining southwestern masculinity from three separate lenses of cultural experience, Mexican American, Native American and female, this thesis aims to acknowledge the blending of masculinities that is taking place in both the fictitious and factual southwest. Long gone are the days when the cowboys chased down the savage Indians or the Mexican bandits. Southwestern literature now focuses on how these different cultures and traditions can re-construct their masculinities in a way that will be beneficial to all. The southwest is a land of borders and liminal spaces between the United States and Mexico, between brown and white, legal and illegal. All of these borders converge here to create the last American frontier. These converging borders also encompass converging traditions, cultures, and genders. By blending the cowboy, the macho, and the warrior, perhaps these Southwestern writers can construct a liminal masculinity more representative of the southwest itself.