Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International.

Not available

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1997. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [146]-168).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 157-175).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The United States teen birth rate has been declining since 1991, but the teen pregnancy rate remains one of the highest in the developed world outside the former Soviet Bloc. There is no current national strategy to implement comprehensive sexuality education in schools, and states have varying sex education and abortion policies. There are various effective programs designed to prevent teen pregnancies that share common characteristics of effective programs. Given the widespread reach and number of users, YouTube has the potential to be an education resource for teen pregnancy prevention. At the time of this study, there were no studies describing the content of videos that relate to teen pregnancy. This study is intended to fill this gap in the literature. YouTube was searched with the key words “teen pregnancy,” and the results were sorted by view count. The most widely viewed 100 videos meeting inclusion criteria were included in the study. The most widely viewed videos received 434,423,558 cumulative views. These videos were coded for their source, format, and the inclusion of content variables. The content variables were also organized to fit Kirby’s model of characteristics of effective programs. The majority of videos were sources and formats that depicted teens’ experience with pregnancy, including documentaries, reality TV programs, talk shows, and vlogs uploaded by consumers. Notably, there were no videos uploaded by professionals. The content most covered in the videos were the pregnancy outcome, how the teen mother found out she was pregnant, the teen mother’s reaction to the pregnancy, and the involvement of various family members. YouTube is an opportunity to reach a larger number of viewers, but the teen pregnancy videos in the study are missing key elements of teen pregnancy that are present in the literature, like the relationship between poverty and teen pregnancy, teen abortion rates, and repeat pregnancies. The videos were also lacking in elements of Kirby’s characteristics of effective programs. Recommendations for health education practice include the need for professionals to utilize the true stories of teen pregnancies and popular influencers to create engaging, accurate content.

Educators can no longer simply look at student totals to distribute instructional dollars. Databased decision-making must be instituted to overcome achievement gaps between white and non-white students. In low-socioeconomic (SES) settings, districts must increase expenditure per pupil (EPP) as low-SES rates rise for all students as district administrators must be in a position to show product rather than process. It was attempted to determine if a positive or negative relationship existed between Anglo, Hispanic, and African-American student test scores and wealth factors on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills tests in 2000 and 2002. Wealth factors studied included EPP and SES. Data analysis was carried out on 974 independent and consolidated school districts in Texas. Low-SES was found to be a negative predictor of higher test performance on standardized reading and mathematics tests. To varied degrees, low-SES affected all students from all ethnicities as well as affluent students. EPP was attributed with a positive effect on student test performance. Increases of $1,000 or more at one time produce performance increases from 0.20 to 0.40 points. In making specific recommendations, the researcher advises increasing expenditures low-SES districts, schools, and classrooms through the creation of specific district linear equations exhibited in this study. Funds must be earmarked for those students that are affected by poverty. It is also recommended to decrease the number of low-SES students by merging high-SES and low-SES students to dilute poverty's effects. Additional correlation studies that address instructional strategies and outside factors are needed. Finally, a replicating study using Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills data over a period would be beneficial.

The aim of this exploratory qualitative study is to identify the problems African American adolescent girls face in making eating choices and to learn how they make decisions about eating. Differences related to culture and socioeconomic status influences, and decision-making strategies were explored. Three sites in African American communities were selected for focus groups and individual adolescent girl-parent dyad interviews for data collection. Data were gathered in 5 focus groups and 4 individual adolescent girl-parent dyad interviews with African American adolescents (n=30). Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory (EST) provided the conceptual framework for informing the analysis and interpretation of the data. Using grounded theory methods, the researcher identified the core variable or basic psychosocial problem that faced the participants was receiving mixed messages. Low income African American adolescent girls receive mixed messages about nutrition, health and foods from their microsystems that are comprised of friends and family, and from macrosystems that include textbooks and the media. Filtering the mixed messages is the basic psychosocial process that low income African American girls use to handle the barrage of mixed messages they receive from their microsystems and macrosystems regarding eating choices and exosystem influences. The process of filtering the mixed messages is comprised of five phases: Applying a lens, surveying available resources, weighing influences, then choosing alternating eating strategies and evaluating their eating choices. How the adolescent girl applies a lens, surveys resources and weighs the influences together impact the alternating eating strategies that they implement. Over time they evaluate the effectiveness of their eating choices. / text