Oklahoma is home to over fifty tribes or sovereign nations relocated during the era of U.S. Government removal. The tribes display their own unique cultural heritage, which combine elements of traditional culture with the frontier heritage of the American West. The health care context of these Native communities is pluralistic including elements of traditional health practices, intertribal health perspectives, and medical care delivery by the Indian Health Service and community health services. This case study is a biocultural evaluation of the health of the Caddo tribe utilizing historical reconstruction, ethnographic methods, qualitative, and quantitative methods of health characterization of the contemporary population. The orientation is integrative to understand what I term the "health matrix" of this population. The health matrix is the biocultural interface where the interaction of social processes and biopsychological relations is monitored through an understanding of how cultural and biological variables intersect and overlap. The purpose is to understand social and behavioral processes, specifically social relations and cultural support mechanisms, on biological health. The main goal of the dissertation was to track Caddo health through time and to develop a tribe-specific morbidity and mortality profile to understand contemporary health patterns and issues facing the tribe. Defining the limits of the Caddo sample population and distinguishing them from other Native Americans in the area was a catalyst for developing an Indian Health Service grant to assess the health needs of the local population and work toward community program development. Political economic factors influencing the tribe were instrumental in the execution and delivery of the research and served to highlight areas of tribal dynamics and contradictions. This case study allows for a consideration of cultural and personal context in health behavior and profiles. A broad range of methodological techniques were combined to understand the complexity of the health matrix within this community. Although specifically focused on one tribe, the dissertation has theoretical implications for communities grappling with implementing community health care programs. This work presents sociopolitical and personal issues that impact individual health, as well as community programs, and incorporates Native Americans and anthropologists, or other consultants who work within these communities.

This qualitative study investigated how White student affairs practitioners described and reflected on the practice of race awareness education. The methods of data collection included semi-structured, in-depth interviews and some field observations with ten White student affairs practitioners from diverse university and college settings throughout the United States. The principal focus of this study was to acquire knowledge as to: (1) what informs practitioners about their practice; (2) why they make the decisions they do regarding their approach to race awareness education; and (3) how has their practice changed over time. Practitioners were also asked to reflect on what it meant to be doing this work as a student affairs practitioner. The findings suggested emergent themes related to the relationship between the practitioner, the practice, and their reflection. Themes regarding the practitioners' background centered on their intrinsic motivation; reliance on experiential learning; and the importance of tracking their own White identity development. In their narratives about the practice, themes emerged regarding the range of interventions utilized in the field; pedagogical issues related to impacting students' learning at the cognitive, affective, and behavioral levels; the use of self as a teaching tool; and viewing practice as an art form. In their reflections, practitioners spoke of the challenges inherent in evaluation; their desired changes; minor shifts that occurred with their practice; and the need for processes to insure reflective thought. The study concludes with a discussion of the implications for further research.

The study focuses on the relationship between child care use and labor force participation among American mothers. The major research questions addressed are: (1) What is the nature of mothers' child care arrangements and how have these changed in the last two decades?; (2) What is the cost of and satisfaction with these arrangements?; (3) What are the determinants of types of child care used?; (4) What conflicts does child care pose for employed mothers; (5) To what extent is lack of child care a constraint to mothers who want to work for pay? Evidence on variation in child care use and conflicts with child care controlling for income level, race/ethnicity and marital status is presented. Data were analyzed from (1) a 1988 survey of a random sample of 989 working mothers of preschool age children in South Chicago, Camden and Newark, New Jersey, (2) a 1983-1984 survey of a random sample of 1694 low income black and Hispanic, single mothers in five U.S. cities and (3) a 24 month followup survey of 428 of the 1694 single mothers interviewed in 1983. Data from the 1975 National Child Care Consumer Study and from a 1985 supplement to the Survey of Income and Program Participation were also utilized. Since 1975, child care provided by relatives is the most common primary child care arrangements used by mothers. The reliance on family members is particularly prevalent among poor, single black and Hispanic mothers despite an overwhelming preference for group child care centers suggesting an absence of choice over type of child care used among these mothers. Problems with cost, availability and quality of child care have prevented substantial numbers of currently employed mothers from working in the past, or caused them to change jobs of job schedules. Among nonemployed mothers, lack of child care is a constraint to employment and a greater constraint to job search activities for poor, single mothers than for middle income mothers. Among poor, single mothers, a major obstacle to labor force participation is lack of job benefits.

This investigation explored through intensive case studies the coping progress of a group of Jewish individuals and also recorded the areas in which they simultaneously observed the Jewish religious mourning rituals. The in-depth interviews of fiver persons, three women and two men, and selections from two additional interviews have been recorded. Their losses included both parents and both spouses. They were invited by the researcher when reports of their losses appeared in the newspaper obituary columns. Each subject was personally interviewed three times to coincide with the three stages of the Jewish ritual practice. The questionnaires utilized to evaluate the subjects' grief and coping were based upon questions developed in three previous studies: (a) The study of the Attachment Theory and Multiple Dimensions of Grief by Selby C. Jacobs, et al. (1986) of the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University. (b) The Expanded Texas Inventory of Grief developed by Sidney Zisook, et al. (1982). (c) The Center of Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. The questionnaires to determine the areas of the subjects' observance or non-observance, of the Jewish ritual system were developed by this researcher. The purpose of this study was to provide the two parallel records of grief coping and structured mourning procedure observance so that future researchers might have a basis for determining the influence of the latter on the former. An additional result is that in all cases the subjects themselves commented on what, if anything, observing the ritual meant to them. A further area of future study could, therefore, be to determine how one's own perception of the ritual one is observing determines the effect it has upon one's grief coping. In the Summary and Recommendations observations are made on the efficacy of the questionnaire instruments employed in the studies mentioned above. Suggestions for improving their usefulness are made.

This exploratory study looks at Chinese-Caucasian interracially married parents' experience of raising their children. The goal is to characterize these parents' stances toward their children's ethnic identity. A semi-structured, clinical interview was developed for the study in order to gather information about the respondent's family and individual histories, as well as their childrearing practices and beliefs. The sample consisted of 29 interracially married parents who had at least one child older than nine years old. Eight intraracially married Chinese parents were also interviewed for comparison purposes. The interview data was subjected to a content analysis which generated the following six-dimensional conceptual framework of ethnic identity: (1) Group Identification; (2)Ethnic Continuity; (3) Physical Characteristics; (4) Objective Culture; (5) Subjective Culture; (6) Sociopolitical Consciousness. It was found that parents did not feel that their children's ethnic identity was the focus of a great deal of concern. Parents also emphasized that it had rarely been a source of psychological or social difficulty for their children. The ethnic identity of the Chinese parent was stressed far more than the ethnic identity of the Caucasian parent. Surprisingly, parents expressed very little concern about their children's racial marginality or the issue of racial continuity. On a conscious level, parents were more strongly committed to "group identification" and "objective culture." In actual practice, however, their commitment in these areas carried a great deal of ambivalence. On an unconscious level, parents were most likely to pass down "subjective culture." This was the one area of regular cultural conflict in these families, particularly around expectations about family roles. These parents' greatest concern revolved around their children losing their Chinese culture. However, parents were generally unsuccessful when they tried to actively guide their children in an ethnic direction. Parents stressed that their children's most durable ethnic commitments developed largely independently of their own efforts to influence, emphasizing that their own personal ethnic involvements (modelling) seemed to have the most impact. The study concludes by offering some integrative comments about the nature of ethnic identity and the forces that propel it across generations. An important area of future research would be to talk with these parents' biracial children about their ethnic identities.

The Black Panther Party existed for a very short period of time, but within this period they established themselves as a central force in the Afrikan American human rights/civil rights movements. Over the past twenty years the history of the Black Panther Party has been conspicuously missing from material on the 1960's. Particularly, there is an absence of material concerning the rank-and-file grassroots activities. In documenting the grassroots efforts of the Black Panther Party, this study emphasizes the community organizing of the Party in a manner which encourages the student/reader to analyze the effectiveness and relevance of grassroots organizing as a means for developing social change and acquiring Afrikan American self-determination.

This study examines current understanding of the experience of Puerto Rican migrant women as they cope with a new environment. Acculturation theory is analyzed and found limited in its conceptualization of migration as confined largely to the individual. An interdisciplinary review of the literature is used to explain the process of adaptation as an interplay of personal and social factors. The personal and social functions of ethnicity and gender are found critical in migrant women's search for economic advancement. A demographic account of the experience of Puerto Ricans in the United States is provided. A review of empirical studies suggests that being head of household is a significant factor keeping Island born Puerto Rican women out of the labor force. This economic disadvantage is seen to affect the process of acculturation, and reciprocally, acculturation is seen as a requirement for labor force participation. A multidimensional framework is developed which explains that the exclusion of these women from the labor force is rooted in this country's issues of gender and ethnicity. Educational implications are discussed and suggestions for public policy are included. Future research must investigate the effect of prevailing social influences on migrants which place assimilation as their most desirable status. Acculturation studies must focus on the interrelated nature of ethnicity and gender and incorporate into their analyses the effect of socioeconomic resources on adjustment. The experience of migrant Puerto Rican women heads of household must be further examined and new methods derived to quantify their status by means of the available census procedures. A longitudinal national study of the experience of Puerto Ricans in the United States would provide significant interdisciplinary impact.

The purpose of this study was to examine how a select group of adults of African-American/Euro-American heritage came to choose or develop a sense of racial identity. The seven participants were women and men who ranged in age from twenty-one to fifty-nine, and who had chosen Black, White, or Mixed racial identities. Utilizing in-depth phenomenological interviewing, participants were asked how their life experiences had led them to choose a particular racial identity, how they experienced the world in light of their chosen identity, and the meaning which they made of their choice of identity given their actual biological racial heritage. The data was presented as in-depth profiles taken from transcripts of the interviews for each participant. In addition, themes which emerged when participants were compared within and across chosen racial identity groups, gender groups, and age groups were highlighted. The factors which were seen as having the most influence on choice of racial identity were past and current cultural affiliations, early experiences and socialization, and physical appearance. Additional factors which played a lesser role in racial identity development included the nature and extent of individual political experiences or orientation, the nature of social values within a given historical period, the biological racial heritage of the individual, and a participant's sense of spirituality and connection to other social identities such as gender, religion, age, and ethnic identity. An individual's awareness of him or herself in relation to race and racism as outlined in existing racial identity development literature was described as another factor which could be utilized to understand choice of racial identity. Each of these individual factors was defined and arranged into a conceptual framework. The interconnections between some of the factors, such as culture and early socialization, were also explored. The experiences of participants were compared with the processes of identity development outlined in select works on Black, White, and Bi-racial populations. The dissertation also presented a number of recommendations for individuals who worked with bi-racial people.

This descriptive study presents strategies and recommendations that, if adopted and implemented effectively, can lead to a significant increase in the acknowledgment of the importance of vocational education in Massachusetts' Black communities, as well as lead to an increase in the number of minority youth expressing interest in vocational technical education. This will lead to prospects for change. A closer look will be taken at the quality of education being offered in various vocational technical schools and programs especially by minority parents, educators, and civic leaders. The pressure for quality in vocational education will be very great in Massachusetts' Black communities; this means that educators, civic leaders, and parents will begin to ask more and harder questions regarding decisionmaking, allocation and use of resources, and the quality and profile of the teaching profession in vocational technical education in Massachusetts. An important expectation to be noted here, based on what some union officials have stated about vocational education and Blacks, is that the union community wants to cooperate with minority leaders and parents who are seeking to make vocational education work for their youth. This study began with the theme that vocational technical education can be a creative and exciting "public policy glue" tying together demography, the economic needs of Massachusetts, and the educational needs of Black communities. It raised the awareness of the importance of vocational education in minority communities through various forums and meetings; it brought together a network of individuals and organizations which could be the basis of renewed interest and attention to the role that vocational education can play in the economic development of minority communities, and in the improvement of the quality and relevance of education in these communities. Finally, the study resulted in several concrete strategies and recommendations which, if implemented effectively, could lay the foundation necessary to guarantee a significant presence of Blacks in the world of vocational education in Massachusetts.

No description available.