Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 101-103).

This study tested the existence of significant differences in levels of perceived job stressors between non-managerial individuals in boundary-spanning and nonboundary- spanning occupations. Correlations between selected demographic characteristics and levels of perceived job stressors were also determined.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Chardie L. Baird / Despite the predictions that the influence of women into male-dominated fields would eventually eliminate women’s disadvantaged positions in paid work, most research finds that feminization results in the reconfiguration of gender inequality. These studies tended to investigate the material consequences and conditions of feminization and how the “gendering” of the occupation develops to justify the reconfiguration of inequality. Scholarship has begun to examine how individuals in occupations negotiate the existing occupational gender-type and how this shapes gender inequality in feminizing occupations. My dissertation takes up this call by looking at the relationship between gender-typing (i.e., how occupations or jobs come to be understood as appropriate for men or women) and feminization (i.e., women in a formerly male-dominated occupation) in the funeral industry. The funeral industry has traditionally been a male-dominated and gender-typed masculine occupation; however, since the 1970s funeral directing has been experiencing feminization. In recent history, women were not seen as appropriate for funeral directing. They were considered too physically and emotionally “unfit;” however, the movement of women into the occupation complicates how funeral directing was traditionally gender-typed. Using text excerpts about gender (n=101) from 35 funerary trade journal articles ranging from 1995-2013, my dissertation explores competing cultural beliefs about gender at the occupational-level (“old boy,” gender essential, gender blind, and gender-progressive) accompanying women’s movement into funeral directing. Through semi-structured interviews with twenty (11 women, 9 men) mortuary science students who are studying to become funeral directors and twenty-two (13 women, 9 men) licensed funeral directors, I explore how these occupational scripts about gender affect workplaces in terms of the workplace experiences (practices and hiring, the division of labor, relations between employees and supervisors) and educational experiences (occupational entry, structure and training); and how current and future funeral directors negotiate cultural gender beliefs about funeral directing to challenge existing explanations and create new explanations about women’s suitability for funeral directing. My findings indicate that occupational cultural beliefs about gender are both reproduced and challenged in workplace and educational settings and in how students and funeral directors negotiate cultural gender beliefs.

Dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master's Degree in Technology: Chiropractic, Durban University of Technology, 2010. / Background: A headache is a common complaint in daily practice and occurs across all ethnicities and both genders. These headaches can cause a decrease in productivity and quality of life. Studies carried out in defined population groups are useful in developing an understanding of the factors that influence headaches, however these are limited. Objective: To determine the prevalence of primary headaches in Allied Health students at the Durban University of Technology (DUT), identify the factors that influence the prevalence of these headaches and to determine the association of these headaches with activities of daily life and productivity. Methods: The study was an epidemiological, cross sectional survey of primary headaches with a study population of ±420. Each willing participant received a Letter of Information outlining the study and a questionnaire for completion. Results: Three hundred and eleven questionnaires were used for statistical analysis. Of these 24.1% (n=75) did not experience headaches and the remaining 75.9% (n=236) were classified as having had either non-primary headache, migraine-type headache (MTH), tension-type headache (TTH) or cluster-type headache (CTH). Headaches were prevalent amongst the student population and several factors were associated with the headaches. CTHs tended to have the most impact on the student as an individual, due to its intensity. MTHs and TTHs tended to have a greater effect on the student population, mainly due to their high incidence. / Durban University of Technology.

Thesis (MA (Sociology and Social Anthropology))--University of Stellenbosch, 1964.

This study was designed to identify the factors that influence an individual's length of employment in the field of nursing following graduation from a baccalaureate program. Subjects were classified as drop-outs or active, and compared with reference to personal, academic, and social variables. The data used for this study were compiled by the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972. Subjects were measured at five separate intervals, beginning in 1972 and ending in 1979. Data collection instruments included the use of questionnaires and completion of a short test measuring verbal and nonverbal ability. Multiple correlation was used to identify those independent variables which were statistically linked. From this, a profile was developed and submitted to multiple regression analysis in order to define a prediction equation. A discriminant function analysis was performed to determine how well the variables were able to distinguish group membership. The results of this study indicate that academic variables are among the best predictors of length of employment in the field of nursing following graduation. Specifically, college grades are shown to be the best predictor in the early college years. As the student nears graduation, academic variables become less important and social variables become more important in the prediction of length of employment. Accurate prediction occurs in approximately 70% of the cases classified. These results would support the present practice of using grades as selection criteria in schools of nursing. While the social and personal variables did not have as much influence on length of employment as the academic variables, prediction efficiency was hindered by the number of variables under consideration and the small sample size. It is recommended that the study by replicated with a reduced number of variables and a larger sample.

This study investigated differences among racial groups and between sex groups on psychometric test performances, demographic data, and vocational potential ratings of an adult rehabilitation client sample. Also, the psychometric and demographic variables were included in discriminant function equations to predict the vocational potential ratings of the white, Hispanic, and black groups and of the total sample. The sample in this study was composed of 99 adult rehabilitation clients who completed comprehensive vocational evaluations between January, 1980, and July, 1983. Each case included complete psychometric and demographic data. Also, a vocational potential rating based on this data, other aptitude and ability testing, work sample performances, behavior observations, and other information obtained by the vocational evaluator was reported for each case. Analysis of variance procedures found no significant differences between the male group and the female group of the total sample on the psychometric and demographic variables, or on the cumulative vocational potential rating. Significant differences were found among the racial groups on mean performance of reading comprehension and arithmetic computation, and on years of education attained. Tukey HSD procedures specified that these differences exist between the white group and the Hispanic group on reading comprehension, between the white group and the black group on arithmetic computation, and between the white and black groups and the hispanic group on years of educaton attained. Also, no significant differences were demonstrated among the racial groups on general mental ability, age, or cumulative vocational potential ratings. Discriminant function analysis procedures applied the psychometric and demographic variables to the prediction of vocational potential ratings of the racial groups and of the total sample. Observation of the resulting prediction equations indicated that some external bias may exist in the use of these equations for predicting vocational potential in white, Hispanic, and black groups. Also, no single predictor variable was the primarily selected variable in all of the discriminant function equations of vocational potential ratings in the total sample. Overall, the predictive power of the discriminant function equations was not sufficient to recommend their use in clinical practice.

An investigation of several potential explanatory factors underlying the discrepant gender distributions within STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) field positions across different higher education institution types was undertaken. Data collection consisted of a main online survey of a nationally representative sample of STEM faculty members from a variety of institution types (N = 4, 195) and a follow-up survey of a subset of main survey respondents (N = 712). Regression analyses were conducted to assess predictors of initial job preference, work hours, and WFC (work-family conflict). Family friendliness ratings of research jobs, work centrality, and rated importance of the family friendliness of various jobs during one’s initial job search predicted initial job preferences and displayed significant gender differences, so these variables are supported as explanatory factors underlying the discrepant gender distributions across institution types. In predicting work hours, the presence of dependent children was associated with significantly reduced work hours among women but not among men. Workload emerged as the only consistent significant predictor of WFC. Comparisons of respondents employed at research-focused and teaching-focused institutions revealed nonsignificant or smaller than expected differences in workload, WFC, and work centrality. These findings run counter to reported faculty beliefs that jobs at teaching-focused institutions are more family friendly than those at research-focused institutions. Women reported adjusting their work goals and habits in order to accommodate their family goals, and vice versa, more frequently than did men. Women frequently reported heightened commitments to their families, relative to those reported by men, although in some cases the predicted gender differences were not observed or were of smaller magnitude than was expected. Analyses were conducted separately for two cohort groups created by splitting the sample at year in which PhD was earned. These two cohort groups differ in meaningful ways with respect to the relationships among the variables under investigation, such that many observed gender differences were isolated to, and/or were stronger within, the group of earlier PhD earners as compared to the group of later PhD earners. These results highlight how and why male and female faculty members differ in their early career planning decisions and their behaviors and adjustments within the context of their STEM higher education career paths.

<p>Subjective cultural meanings were once central to occupational stratification research. However, attempts to operationalize cultural meanings associated with occupations have been widely criticized, leading contemporary stratification scholars to largely abandon subjective measures in favor of objective characteristics. This leaves a gap in our understanding of how inequality is generated and maintained because Weber ([1958]) theorized that status, a form of social symbolic power based on cultural beliefs, represents one of the fundamental bases of inequality. Without an adequate method of operationalizing occupational symbolic meanings, the extent to which cultural beliefs influence stratified life outcomes remains largely unknown.</p><p>To address this, I used affect control theory, a quantitative general theory of</p><p>social action, and its measurement model, the semantic differential scale, to examine three issues regarding the relationship between cultural beliefs and stratified outcomes. Symbolic meaning was quantified into EPA ratings that measure three universal, affective dimensions: evaluation (good versus bad), potency (powerful versus weak), and activity (lively versus quiescent). Despite extensive support within structural social psychology, this approach has not been widely used in the field of stratification. In addition to providing a quantitative framework, because symbolic meanings are comprised of multiple dimensions, affect control theory's multidimensional construction allows for novel approaches not possible using unidimensional measures. The three chapters that follow use affect control theory and ratings of occupational meanings from a newly collected dictionary of affective meaning to address the occupational gender wage gap, the effect of occupational status on life chance outcomes, and the development and testing of a new measure of occupational status.</p> / Dissertation

Empowerment, which has been described as both a means of effecting higher and more efficient quality work outputs and a means of facilitating greater freedom in the workplace combines elements of philosophy, psychology, and management theory. The perceptions of the present empowerment level of 3500 employees of a division of a major corporation were analyzed using data from an empowerment survey. The results were examined using correlational and factorial measures to test the structure of the survey. ANOVA and pair-wise comparisons were used to examine group differences on five subscales of the survey based on employee level in the organization. Significant differences were found in almost all categories. Rank order for the three levels differed from previous findings, perhaps due to empowerment thrusts.