The purpose of this dissertation was to understand perceived hearing loss and hearing health care use among older adults from Hispanic/Latino backgrounds using the Andersen model of health care utilization as a framework. A cross sectional analysis of audiometric and survey data from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos was used to estimate factors that characterize perceived hearing handicap and hearing aid use, and to determine hearing aid use rates in a large group of older Hispanic/Latino adults. Data came from 6970 adults aged 45 to 76. Results revealed that self-perceived hearing handicap is significantly correlated to measured hearing levels, and is characterized by health insurance status, age, sex, pure tone average, and language acculturation. Reported hearing aid use was characterized by poorer measured pure tone average of the better ear, higher Hearing Handicap Inventory – Screening scores, and current health insurance. Overall hearing aid uptake rate among included individuals was 3.7%. Hearing aid uptake rates among included individuals were low compared to rates of clinically significant hearing loss. The primary variable associated with underutilization of hearing aid uptake for those who could pose to benefit was a lack of health insurance.

Youth involved in the criminal justice system exhibit elevated rates of sexual risk behavior (SRB), placing them at high risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and other deleterious outcomes. High levels of youth-maternal connectedness have been shown to act as a protective factor for SRB in nationally representative studies and in studies with primarily White youth samples. However, there are mixed findings in the research literature on the association of maternal connectedness and SRB among African American and Latino youth, a population who are disproportionately over-represented in the criminal justice system. Additionally, no studies to date have examined the role of maternal connectedness in SRB among justice-involved youth. This dissertation used archived data to determine if maternal connectedness can buffer against the negative effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on SRB among justice-involved youth. A secondary aim was to explore the prevalence of ACEs among youth in the sample, including several new ACE items that focus on adversity occurring outside the home. Participants (N=263) were sentenced or detained adolescent males at a large correctional facility in New York City, aged 16-18 and predominantly African American and Latino. Data were collected from the baseline interview of an intervention study conducted from 2009-2010. Youth participated in an individually administered, computer-based survey covering a range of topics, such as sexual health history, family relationships, substance use, and exposure to adverse events. Consistent with the literature, our sample of detained youth reported a high degree of SRB and a significant number of adverse experiences. Logistic regression analysis found that total ACE scores do not predict risky sexual behavior, even when controlling for maternal connectedness, substance use, age, and number of days incarcerated/detained. However, every participant endorsed exposure to at least 2 ACEs and 92% endorsed exposure to 4 or more, suggesting that the restriction in range may have obfuscated a relationship between total ACE scores and sexual risk-taking. The new ACE items, including poverty, racial discrimination, and neighborhood violence were prevalent. Additionally, several of the individual ACE items, including physical abuse, emotional abuse, and racial discrimination were independently associated with sexual risk outcomes. Maternal connectedness was negatively correlated with one type of risky sexual behavior—frequency of substance use during sex. Maternal connectedness and total ACE scores were, as predicted, negatively correlated. These findings suggest that our sample of incarcerated youth have experienced such a profound degree of adversity and trauma that perhaps ACE scores alone cannot adequately predict their engagement in risky sex. The fact that so many of the adolescents in the study endorsed the new ACE items also provides strong support for dissemination of the revised ACE inventory. This study highlights the need for greater research on risk and protective factors influencing adolescent SRB, as well as psychosocial correlates of ACEs among at-risk youth. Furthermore, given the syndemic nature of SRB and high prevalence of STIs, HIV, and ACEs in urban communities of color, future research should consider a more comprehensive and integrative approach to preventing both childhood adversity and unwanted sexual risk outcomes. Directions for future research and clinical implications are discussed.

Studies of the association between race/ethnicity and juvenile court outcomes have found that minority youth often receive disadvantaged outcomes compared to similarly situated Whites, and that community context may condition this relationship. Sampson and Laub's (1993) revised conflict perspective is one theoretical model that can potentially explain the social control of youth throughout juvenile justice proceedings. One of the main propositions of Sampson and Laub's (1993) perspective is that communities characterized by underclass poverty and racial inequality will impose greater social control on youth referred to the juvenile court, especially Blacks and youth charged with a drug offense because they are perceived as a threatening population to middle-class values and standards. The current research drew upon Sampson and Laub's (1993) macrolevel theory of inequality and social control to examine the juvenile court outcomes of White, Black, and Hispanic youth from all counties in a Northeast state from 2000-2010. Hierarchical generalized linear modeling (HGLM) was employed to examine the relationship between disadvantaged community characteristics (underclass poverty, racial inequality, ethnic inequality) and juvenile court outcomes; especially if race/ethnicity, drug offending, and type of drug offense (possession versus distribution) tempered these relationships. The results indicate that disadvantaged community characteristics did not directly impact the social control of youth, but individual and joint effects of race/ethnicity and drug offending resulted in greater social control for Black and Hispanic youth of various drug offending combinations. In particular, the effect of race/ethnicity on social control was greater for Hispanic youth compared to Blacks. Depending on the stage examined, the relationship between race/ethnicity, drug offending, and juvenile court outcomes were conditioned by disadvantaged community characteristics. Based on the findings, empirical and theoretical implications are provided that focus on the applicability of Sampson and Laub's (1993) perspective to more recent court outcomes, as well as prevention and intervention programs that focus on decreasing the presence of minority youth in the juvenile justice system. Directions for future research are highlighted to provide greater insights into the circumstances surrounding case outcomes and under what situations community context and race/ethnicity matter in the treatment of youth within the juvenile court.

No description available.

The role of local Chinese media has become more important as the size of the Chinese community in New Zealand has increased rapidly in recent years. The function of local Chinese media could be like a bridge connecting the Chinese community and the mainstream society. This was an exploratory study which examined the current situation of local Chinese media to determine such issues as to whether they are the main source of information for the Chinese community, what if any difficulties they are facing and how they may develop in the future. A general research was conducted for the local Chinese media in Auckland, which covers brief introductions for some local Chinese newspapers, radio, websites, and the sole Chinese television company-World TV. Meanwhile, the researcher collected 102 questionnaires and conducted 10 in-depth interviews from the local Chinese residents and the staff working in local Chinese media companies. The findings of research suggest that most local Chinese residents utilize Chinese language media as a tool to collect daily information either from local society or their original countries. The local Chinese media not only provides information for the local community, but also has social value as a means for self-representation of the Chinese community in New Zealand and better adaptation to the mainstream society. On the other hand, the funding shortage as well as the tough competition became the obstacles for the future development for the local Chinese media. The results of this research may point to what the government’s role should be.

This research seeks to analyse the phenomenon of ethnic business creation amongst the ethnic community in Australia. The main emphasis is on finding the reasons for the process of ethnic business creation over time, focusing on the ethnic resources that the intending ethnic business operators bring to such activities through links to their country of origin. This is a resource-based study, which looks at ethnic resources as a means of sustained competitive advantage and as strategy for success in ethnic business operations in Australia. It attempts to gauge the extent of interactive processes between business operations and the relevant ethnic resources, some of which have a great influence in determining ethnic business people’s success. Policies aimed directly at facilitating, encouraging and strengthening these processes would be a valuable development. This research also examines the theories of small business development and identifies their applicability and relevance to the development of ethnic small business in Australia. The findings of this study enabled the development of a new theory and model for ethnic business creation that links the creation and success of ethnic small businesses to the use of productive diversity principles. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This research focuses on the cultural identity of Chinese Australian adolescents in Canberra between the ages of 18 and 21. Adolescence is a developmental stage in which young people feel a need to define their cultural identity. According to social identity theory, being a member of the group provides individuals with a sense of belonging that contributes to a positive self-concept. In particular, young people belonging to ethnic minority groups need a firm sense of group identification in order to maintain a sense of wellbeing (Tajfel & Turner, 1979). The purpose and significance of this study is to update our understanding of how adolescents from a specific ethnic minority group (Chinese Australian) adjust to the mainstream Australian culture. The information gathered will be significant to the wellbeing of these individuals in helping them to come to terms with their own identity. It will also provide useful information for effective cross-cultural interaction for a range of services such as education, law, health and social services. The quantitative and qualitative approaches employed in this study include a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. The semi-structured interview complements the questionnaire in confirming the adjustments of these adolescents within an analytical framework that is a replica of Phinney's framework (1994). In her research on bicultural identity orientations of African American and Mexican American adolescents, Phinney categorised these adolescents under four distinct types of interaction with the mainstream culture. These are namely: separation (focus only on the ethnic culture), assimilation (identifying solely with the dominant culture), integration (relating well to both cultures) and marginality (relating to neither culture). In this dissertation the researcher also aims to determine the cultural identity of Chinese Australian adolescents in Canberra in the study using these four categories. The results of this study demonstrate that this framework is an appropriate analytical tool for the study of the cultural identity of Chinese Australian adolescents, most of whom classified themselves as integrated. Overall, Chinese Australian adolescents between the ages of 18 and 21 in the Canberra region were well adjusted and showed little tension or stress in relating to their ethnic culture or to the mainstream Australian culture.

<p>This is a study of the Turkish discussion on minority rights. The minority issue in Turkey was placed on the Turkish agenda in connection with intensified negotiations with the European Union on Turkish membership. The unusual and complex circumstances regarding the minority issue in Turkey makes it interesting and relevant to study this topic. The particular focus of this study is on the Kurdish minority and on the alternative discussion regarding the minority issue pursued within civil society groups and the academic sphere. The aim is to contribute to the understanding of the debate on minority rights within these groups. Interviews and collection of literature were made during a field study in Turkey in 2006. A result of this field study was the observation that there are forces working for a change in the notion of Turkish citizenship, and that the minority concept is controversial in Turkey for a number of reasons. Another observation was that the tension between assimilation and cultural identity is an important aspect of the discussion on minorities in Turkey. The Turkish debate has been contrasted to the debate on multiculturalism within political theory. This debate on multiculturalism is about how to deal with culturally diverse societies. There is one main position in favour of multiculturalism and one against. The ideas put forward in the Turkish discussion have been compared with this debate and it has been found that the Turkish discussion differs from this debate in some respects.</p>

No description available.

<p>This essay is a comparative empirical study of ethnic integration mainly of the Russian-speaking minorities in the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) in a post-communism setting. As Lithuania has a Polish minority that is as large as the Russian-speaking, they too shall be included in the study but not as thoroughly as the Russian-speaking minority. Thus the problem is: to what degree are the ethnic minorities integrated with the titular nations in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania? In order to study ethnic integration I have set up a theoretical framework largely based on Weiner’s theory of integration. The theoretical framework focuses on three dimensions: Citizenship, Identity and Segregation. The method used is Most Similar System Design (MSSD). The aim of MSSD is to identify differences in the dimensions which can explain differences in the factor investigated. This particular essay aims to identify the differences in citizenship, identity and segregation which can explain differences in integration between Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Opinion data and statistics as well as relevant literature on the subjects of attitudes and minority situation in the Baltic States will hopefully give a fair picture of the circumstances regarding integration. My conclusions are that the minorities in Lithuania are the ones most integrated with the titular society; due to a legislation that enabled all permanent residents with automatic citizenship and a much smaller minority population. Minorities (save the Polish) do not live in self-contained enclaves where they employ each other, speak the same language and insulate themselves from the titular society in Lithuania. Estonia on the other hand has a legislation that did only give full citizenship to inter-war citizens leaving the majority of the Russian-speaking migrants stateless. Estonia consists of two different ethnic societies living side by side with few interactions between the two which enables the minority to insulate itself. The minority in Estonia is the least integrated minority in the Baltic states. Latvia gave automatic citizenship only to inter-war citizens leaving the majority of the russian-speakers without citizenship. Although Latvia has the largest minority population the minority does not live in self-contained enclaves insulated from the titular society (save some areas in eastern Latvia) which makes them more integrated than the minority in Estonia but less integrated than the minorities in Lithuania.</p>