Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The major objective of this study was to investigate the nature of the relationship between achievement motivation, autonomous and social achievement values, study habits and attitudes, locus of control and socio-economic status (SES) as independent variables on the one hand and the level of achievement as dependent variable on the other. The subjects were 548 second and third year social science students who were studying in seven different directions at the University of the Western Cape during 1990. The following measuring instruments were used in the investigation: The Ray-Lynn (1980) Achievement Orientation questionnaire; Strumpfer's (1975) questionnaire for the measuring of autonomous and social achievement values; Rotter's (1966) internal/external locus of control scale, as adapted by Collins (1974); The study habits and attitudes subscales of the Brown and Holtzman (1955) Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes (SSHA) questionnaire, as adapted for South African conditions; A brief biographical questionnaire The achievement criterion consisted of the average achievement point, which is constituted of a proportion of achievement obtained in continuous evaluation, and a proportion of achievement obtained in the final examination. The following findings were made: Achievement motivation plays a much smaller role in achievement than can be expected and its influence is gender specific. It explains only about 5% of the variance in the achievement of males, and non in the case of females. Academically successful and unsuccessful students could also not be distinguished from each other in terms of level of achievement motivation. The measuring instrument for achievement motivation, although valid and reliable, probably does not succeed in measuring aspects of achievement motivation which are related to a specific situation such as the academic. While social achievement value is not related to achievement, autonomous achievement value explains 4,8% of the variance in achievement of males but none in the case of females. Successful and unsuccessful students also do not differ from each other with regard to their achievement value orientation. Study habit and attitude do not differ in their ability to predict the achievement criterion and explain 4,1% and 5,3% of the variance in achievement of males respectively, but none in the case of females. Successful and unsuccessful students can be distinguished in terms of their study habits and attitudes. Socio-economic status has a differential influence on achievement. While higher SES females achieve at a higher level than low SES females, males do not differ in this regard. The subjects are predominantly internally orientated as far as locus of control characteristic is concerned. Although internal individuals display more "positive" characteristics compared to external individuals, the two groups do not, however, differ as far as level of achievement is concerned, irrespective of gender or socio-economic status. African students have a more positive attitude towards study compared to English and Afrikaans speaking, as well as bilingual (English and Afrikaans speaking) students. Females in this study are generally more homogenous than males. It is recommended that: The suitability of the average achievement point as a criterion of achievement be studied; A broad investigation be launched into practices and problems which might centre around the system of continuous evaluation at uwc, with specific reference to possible problems that students, lecturers and big departments may experience; The nature of differences which might exist between higher and low SES female, and low SES female and low SES male students be investigated; The nature of debilitating factors which affect the achievement of low SES female students be investigated; The tendency towards greater homogeneity among female influence thereof on university study; The adjustment of African students at uwc be studied with the objective of identifying factors that obstruct their academic progress

The purpose of this study was to examine the direct and indirect effects of selected factors on school grades in public high schools in the state of Florida. A sample of 316 public high schools was created using data obtained from the Florida Education and the Florida High School Athletic Association. The selected factors that were chosen to be measured in the study were: minority percentage as measured by the proportion of minority students in relation to the total student body at a given school, socio economic status percentage (SES) as measured by the proportion of students participating in the free and reduced lunch program in relation to the total student body at a given school, academic achievement of 10th grade reading mean scale scores and 10th grade mathematics mean scale scores as measured by the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), and football winning percentage as measured by reported scores to the Florida High School Athletic Association. The direct and indirect effects of minority percentage, socio economic status percentage, and football winning percentage were tested using a path model in calculating linear regressions to analyze the effects on school grades; while only the direct effects of academic achievement were tested for the effects on school grades. The path model assessed the desired path of the selected factors in the study (See Figure 1); however, all paths were tested in the fully recursive model as illustrated (See Figure 2) for both the 2004-2005 and the 2005-2006 school years in the sample. Selected factors that demonstrated strength of effects were examined for predictability on school grades. Selected factors that indicated indirect effects were analyzed for indication of any discriminating patterns. For the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 school years, there was not a statistically significant direct effect for minority percentage and socio economic status percentage on winning percentage; FCAT reading mean scale score and FCAT mathematics mean scale score on winning percentage; winning percentage and FCAT reading mean scale score on school grades; winning percentage and FCAT mathematics mean scale score on school grades; minority percentage, socio economic status percentage, and winning percentage on FCAT reading mean scale score; minority percentage, socio economic status percentage, and winning percentage on FCAT mathematics mean scale score; or minority percentage, socio economic status percentage, and winning percentage on school grades. Two important effects were determined in the linear regression analysis. First, socio economic status percentage was not directly significant on school grades; however, it had a significant direct effect on the FCAT scores schools received on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. Second, the FCAT reading and mathematics mean scale scores had direct significant effects on school grades in both the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 school years. Recommendations were made for potential changes to the study to include school size, graduation rates, and student violence that could influence school grades. Future considerations should be given to inclusions based on the Florida Writes requirement, 10th grade science mean scale scores, and other subject content not currently part of the state mandate for graduation. In addition, a study could be conducted that included changes to the path model to reflect minority percentage more accurately in the effects toward the designation of school grades. Finally, a study could be conducted that included participation in sports to account for any ancillary variables that may contribute to the effects of the designation of school grades.

No description available.

<p>Compared to people who are White and have high socioeconomic status (SES), those who are Black and have low SES are more likely to receive suboptimal pain care. One potential contributor to these disparities is biased provider decision-making—there is compelling evidence that providers are influenced by patient race and SES when making pain treatment decisions. According to the dual process model, people are more likely to be influenced by demographic stereotypes, including implicit beliefs, when they are under high cognitive load (i.e., mental workload). One stereotype belief relevant to pain care is that Black and low SES people are more pain tolerant. Aligned with the dual process model, providers who are under high cognitive load and have strong implicit beliefs that Black and low SES people are more pain tolerant may be particularly likely to recommend fewer pain treatments to them. To test this hypothesis, I recruited physician residents and fellows (n=120) to make pain treatment decisions for 12 computer-simulated patients with back pain that varied by race (Black/White) and SES (low/high). Half of the providers were randomized to the high cognitive load group in which they were interrupted during the decision task to make conversions involving hypertension medications for another patient. Remaining providers completed the task without being interrupted. Providers’ implicit beliefs about race and SES differences in pain tolerance were measured with two separate Implicit Association Tests (IATs). Multilevel modeling indicated that providers recommended stronger medications to low than high SES patients (OR=.68, p=.03). There was also a significant interaction between patient SES and cognitive load (OR=-.56, p=.05) and a trending interaction between patient race and cognitive load (OR=1.7, p=.07). Under low cognitive load, providers recommended more pain treatments to high SES (vs. low SES) and Black (vs. White) patients, but under high cognitive load, providers recommended more pain treatments to low SES (vs. high SES) patients and equivalent treatment to Black and White patients. There were no three-way interactions between patient demographics (race or SES), cognitive load, and providers’ implicit beliefs (race-pain or SES-pain IAT scores). However, there was a trending interaction between patient race and race-pain IAT scores (OR=2.56, p=.09). Providers with stronger implicit beliefs that White people are pain sensitive and Black people are pain tolerant recommended more pain treatments to White patients and fewer pain treatments to Black patients. Lastly, there was a trending effect that providers with stronger implicit beliefs that high SES people are pain sensitive and low SES people are pain tolerant recommended stronger medications in general (OR=13.03, p=.07). Results support that provider cognitive load is clinically relevant and impacts clinical decision-making for chronic pain for racially and socioeconomically diverse patients. Future studies are needed to further understand the impact of cognitive load on providers’ pain care decisions, which may inform evidence-based interventions to improve pain care and reduce disparities.</p> <p>  </p>

The research described here was inspired by a national review which concluded that too many children come into our primary schools with unmet speech and language needs (Bercow, 2008). Teachers are in a position to identify language difficulties but many have expressed uncertainty regarding their role in this process. I believed that the LAMP (Linguistic Assessment for Mapped Provision) screen for language and communication which I had developed would help teachers to identify language concerns and would also increase their professional confidence in this complex area. I had developed the LAMP screening instrument and piloted it over a 2 year period prior to this study. It is employed here as a universal screen that is used in a whole school approach in order to enable teachers to identify language need. The use of the LAMP as a universal screen applied to all the children in a school lessened the likelihood of preconceived notions impacting upon teacher’s perceptions of need in the classroom. The LAMP data allowed schools to track the progress of individual children within a class and whole school context. Teachers need to be aware of any pre-conceptions they may have in relation to the performance of children from different socio economic circumstances. The hypothesis that poverty continues to provide the weightiest detrimental effects upon children’s language development was examined and within the parameters of this study was found to be contestable. Study design: A systematic survey was conducted over 4 Primary schools using the LAMP. Rich picture data was accessed from teacher questionnaires and focus groups involving participants from the schools in the study. The repeated measures design provided information on what teachers had learned in the period of reflection between the screenings. The use of a mixed methods repeated measures design helped me to understand what was difficult for teachers and what the teachers felt would help them. The 4 schools in the study were chosen to reflect varied social contexts in order to explore any impacts of SES on the results. Analysis of data: In a repeated measures design, a LAMP screen was completed for every child across the 4 schools by their teachers in February and then June in one school year. Results of screening were analysed and compared on a range of variables using SPSS. Questionnaires were used to collect teacher perceptions before and after using the LAMP screen. Focus groups were held in the schools at the end of the study to add more information on how helpful teachers felt the process had been in raising their awareness, confidence, and skills in the identification of SLCN. Findings: The main trend observed was a decrease in levels of teacher concern related to children’s speech and language needs from the first to second screening survey. Differences were found at a statistically significant level on a range of variables. The expected differences between high and low socio-economic status (SES) schools were not found. Teachers reported increases in their awareness, confidence, and skill in identifying children’s speech language and communication concerns by the end of the study. Some changes to classroom practice were reported. Conclusions: I propose that use of the LAMP screen increased teacher awareness of the nature of language difficulty and that this heightened awareness was a key variable in the observed changes to language concern scores. The LAMP screening process was seen by schools’ staff to have had a positive effect on teacher’s skills and to be relatively easily assimilated into the school system. However some participants identified a number of challenges relating to time constraints and maintaining the use of LAMP as high profile in the context of competing time demands in their schools. It is suggested that EP services would be in a position to support schools to implement and embed the LAMP screening model as part of their Service provision. It is also proposed that economic deprivation or disadvantage did not appear to be the only important factor to consider when making funding decisions intended to support children’s linguistic competency in schools.

La problématique de la surcharge pondérale est pandémique. Un nombre important d’études épidémiologiques robustes mettent en évidence un gradient socio-économique (SSE) en lien avec cette problématique: le risque de surpoids ou d'obésité diminuerait graduellement avec l’accroissement du SSE. Toutefois, les données canadiennes récentes montrent que ce gradient est inversé pour les hommes au Canada. Nos objectifs sont (1) de vérifier si ce phénomène de gradient SSE inversé s’applique autant à l’embonpoint, qu’à l’obésité; (2) nous présenterons et discuterons trois grandes hypothèses susceptibles d'expliquer les inégalités sociales de surcharges pondérales (sociodémographique, habitudes de vie et psychosociale). Méthodologie : nous réalisons nos analyses à partir d’un échantillon de personnes âgées de 25 à 65 ans ayant répondu aux questions de l’Enquête sur la santé dans les collectivités canadiennes cycle 2.2 volet-nutrition (ESCC 2.2). Nous choisissons d’utiliser les données de cette enquête principalement pour ses mesures anthropométriques. Nous utilisons deux indicateurs SSE : le revenu et l’éducation. Nous utilisons des régressions logistiques simples et multinomiales. Nos résultats montrent des gradients SSE inversés entre hommes et femmes pour les liens entre le revenu et l’obésité, mais non pour l’embonpoint. Nous observons des gradients SSE avec l’éducation, mais principalement pour les femmes et l’obésité. Que pour les hommes aucune des hypothèses explicatives n’aura su atténuer l’effet du revenu, tant pour l’embonpoint que pour l’obésité. Chez les femmes l’effet de l’éducation et des habitudes de vie expliquent majoritairement l’effet du revenu sur l’obésité. Conclusion : nous montrons par nos résultats qu’en se concentrant uniquement que sur les aspects individuels de la surcharge pondérale, nous limitons notre compréhension des inégalités sociales en matière de surcharge pondérale, particulièrement celles entre le genre. / Overweight and obesity are an epidemic health problem Worldwide. A large number of Epidemiological studies demonstrate social gradient (SES) whit this problematic: the higher the socioeconomic level of the household the lower the Overweight or Obesity rate are. Recent Canadian data shows that the likelihood of being overweight follows a socio economic (SES) gradient. However, the risk increases with the SES for men and decreases for women. Our aims are (1) to examine if this gender-reversed SES gradient is observable for pre-obesity as well as for obesity; and (2) to which extent this gradient can be explained by, socio-demographic, psychosocial and behavioural factors. Methods: Data was derived from a subsample of Canadian adults (25-65 years) who responded to the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS 2.2, Statistics Canada). We choose this survey because the BMI is derived from anthropometric measures of weight and height. We used two SES indicators: education level and measure of income sufficiency calculated by Statistics Canada. Multinomial logistic regressions were used to test our hypotheses’. Our results show a gender-reversed gradient for obesity but not for pre-obesity. Pre-obesity is significantly and positively associated to SES for men, but no significant relationship was found for women. For men, socio-demographic, behavioural and psychosocial factors neither contribute in explaining the relationship between SES and pre-obesity or obesity. For women, behavioural factors, mainly physical activity, contribute, however marginally, to reducing the gap between the poorest and the richest. In conclusion, these results show that targeting individual factors is a limited approach towards reducing overweight social inequalities.

Die Studie verfolgte das Ziel, die Zusammenhänge zwischen einer unzureichenden grammatischen Entwicklung und den Fähigkeiten Texte zu verstehen, aufzudecken. Hierfür wurden in 3 Experimenten zum Verstehen und Verwenden von satzübergreifenden pronominalen Bezügen und Konnektoren (Konjunktionen & Adverbien) querschnittliche und längsschnittliche Daten von Kindern mit eine spezifischen Sprachentwicklungsstörung (SSES), von typisch entwickelten Kindern des gleichen chronologischen Alters und von Kindern des gleichen Sprachentwicklungsalters erhoben. Insgesamt wurden 120 Kinder mit einer Altersspanne von 3;0 – 10;11 Jahren getestet. Es wurde untersucht, ob Kinder mit einer SSES die grammatischen Voraussetzungen mitbringen, Kohäsionsmittel zu verstehen oder einzubinden. Die wesentliche Grundlage bot die Minimal Default Grammar – Annahme (Penner & Roeper, 1998), die besagt, dass Kinder mit einer SSES in einem Zwischenstadium der grammatischen Entwicklung stagnieren. Diese konnte in der vorliegenden Studie bestätigt werden. In Experiment 1 wurde das Verständnis intersententialer Pronomen in nichtkanonischen Sätzen untersucht. Diese Leistung wurde zum einen mit kanonischen Sätzen mit Pronomen im Nominativ im Vorfeld und zum anderen mit adverbinitialen Sätzen mit Pronomen sowohl im Nominativ als auch im Akkusativ im Vor-und Mittelfeld verglichen. In Experiment 2 wurde das Verständnis der Konjunktionen weil und aber untersucht, welche die die grammatischen Positionen Vorvor- und Vorfeld besetzen. Schließlich wurde in Experiment 3 die Produktion von referentiellen und relationalen Kohäsionsmitteln in Erzählungen untersucht. Hierfür wurden von jedem Kind vier Geschichten hinsichtlich der Verwendung von Pronomen und Konnektoren in sämtlichen grammatischen Positionen analysiert. Die Ergebnisse zeigten hochsignifikante Gruppenunterschiede zwischen Kindern der SSES-Gruppe und beiden Kontrollgruppen (SSES < EA p < .001; SSES < CA p < .001). Die Leistungen unterschieden sich qualitativ und quantitativ. Kohäsionsmittel konnten von Kindern mit SSES weder verstanden noch aktiv verwendet werden. Dabei konnte ein enger Zusammenhang zwischen der grammatischen Entwicklung und der Verfügbarkeit von Kohäsionsmitteln nachgewiesen werden. / The availability of cohesive means in children with developmental language disorder. The aim of the study was to disentangle the interrelation between deficits in the grammatical development and the ability to understand texts. In 3 experiments the comprehension and production of intersentential pronoun resolution as well as connectives were assessed. A large cohort of n= 120 with n= 40 children with specific language impairment (SLI/DLD) (age of 3;0 to 10;11 years) was compared to control groups with chronological age matched and language age matched children. There were cross-sectional and longitudinal data collected. The main question was: Do children with DLD have the preconditions to understand intersentential pronoun resolution and connectives in discourse? Most of the theoretical background was provided by the Minimal Default Grammar – Hypothesis (Penner & Roeper, 1998). The framework postulates that children with DLD adhere to an interim grammar without CP- shell. So the account predicts a considerable deficit at the level or the syntax-discourse interface. In experiment 1 the comprehension of intersentential pronoun resolution in noncanonical clauses was tested and compared with the performance in canonical and adverb initial clauses. In experiment 2 the children had to judge the truth of the sentences with weil and aber. The connective weil is syntactically embedded within the matrix clause. The connectiv aber however is syntactically nonembedded within the sentences, it introduces a co-ordinate clause. Finally in experiment 3 the children tell stories. The focus of the analyses was on the production of referential and relational devices in all syntactical positions. The results show highly significant differences between the performance of the DLD group as compared to the control groups (SSES < EA p < .001; SSES < CA p < .001). Grammatically impaired children neither understand nor use referential and relational cohesive devices within the CP-position. Strong correlations were found between the grammatical development of the children and the availability of cohesive means.

More than 1.2 million Americans are hospitalized annually with an acute coronary syndrome (ACS); many impaired quality of life after discharge with an ACS. This dissertation focuses on two novel aspects of patient health status (PHS) after ACS: how it can be predicted based on the socioeconomic status (SES) of the patient, and how it evolves over time. We used data from TRACE-CORE, a longitudinal prospective cohort of patients hospitalized with ACS. We measured PHS using both the SF-36 mental and physical component subscales (MCS and PCS) and the Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ) health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and physical limitations subscales at the index hospitalization and at 1, 3, and 6-months post-discharge. Firstly, after adjusting for individual-level SES, we found that individuals living in the neighborhoods with the lowest neighborhood SES had significantly worse PHS. Secondly, we found that each of the components of PHS had subgroups with distinct patterns of evolution over time (trajectories). Both the PCS and the SAQ physical limitations subscale had two trajectories; one with average and one with impaired health status over time. For the HRQoL subscale of SAQ, we found three trajectories: Low, Average, and High scores. For MCS, we found four trajectories: High (consistently high scores), Low (consistently low scores), and two with average scores at baseline that either improved or worsened over time, referred to as Improving and Worsening, respectively. All PHS trajectories, except for MCS, predicted readmission and mortality during the 6 months to 1 year post-ACS discharge.

Survey research plays a significant role in the way psychologists investigate key relationships which impact human behaviours—and which inform us about undercurrents of a population. Samples are generally taken with the primary function of being able to make inferences which can be generalised to the target population—however, historically the field has consistently relied on small and niche datasets which are not truly representative of the general population. As a consequence, there is an abundance of published research which lacks ecological validity. The alternative approach is to collect larger amounts of data—this approach is extremely costly and in most instances impractical for the researcher. I have termed this conundrum, the cost-insight trade-off, which has traditionally exasperated psychologists. To address this dilemma, I conducted three studies using two alternative methods. Study 1 investigated the relationship between social status and international friendships at a micro and macro level. The building social status hypothesis states that higher social status individuals would reach out more to people and have more international friendships than their poorer counterparts. In contrast, the restrictive social status hypothesis states the higher social status individuals would be reclusive and have fewer international friendships than their poorer counterparts. Findings at both the micro (N = 857; U.S. participants) and macro levels (approximately 50 billion friendships across 187 countries) were in alignment with the restrictive social status hypothesis. Investigating this relationship at this large a scope would not have been possible without utilising Facebook Data—furthermore, for most research projects collecting data at this scale is both too costly and impractical. Study 2 aims to address the limitation of study 1. In this light, a new alternative method, the Survey Forecasting Method, is introduced and used to demonstrate creative capability of combining the latest technology, machine learning techniques and big data (i.e. Twitter). The findings were proof positive that a data collection of only 1,000 participants (at minimum) can be transformed into the power of having a dataset of several hundred thousand participants. In other words, the findings suggest that it is possible to efficiently and effectively forecast scores for potentially millions of people, without them having to complete a single survey. This is a significant step towards developing an alternative survey method; however, the method has only been applied to the Big Five & NEO-IPIP personality traits. Study 3 provides further evidence for the Survey Forecasting Method as a viable alternative to traditional sampling methods. The study examined the relationship between entrepreneurs’ self-efficacy, fear of failure, and well-being at two levels: (a) self-report and forecasted individual level, and (b) forecasted state level (across all 50 U.S. states). Findings show there are differences between each level which provides insights into effects and potential mechanisms which would not potentially be found using traditional “silo’d” methods. The primary aim of this thesis is to provide a viable alternative method to conducting survey research—which allows the researcher to gain deeper insights into the population at less cost and time. Furthermore, this alternative method addresses poor data representativeness. Limitations are addressed and future directions to improve its capability and robustness as a viable survey research methodology are provided.

Value-at-Risk (VaR) model fails to predict financial risk accurately especially during financial crises. This is mainly due to the model’s inability to calibrate new market information and the fact that the risk measure is characterised by poor tail risk quantification. An alternative approach which comprises of the Expected Shortfall measure and the Lognormal Jump-Diffusion (LJD) model has been developed to address the aforementioned shortcomings of VaR. This model is called the Simulated-Expected-Shortfall (SES) model. The Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) approach is used in determining the parameters of the LJD model since it’s more reliable and authenticable when compared to other nonconventional parameters estimation approaches mentioned in other literature studies. These parameters are then plugged into the LJD model, which is simulated multiple times in generating the new loss dataset used in the developed model. This SES model is statistically conservative when compared to peers which means it’s more reliable in predicting financial risk especially during a financial crisis. / Statistics / M.Sc. (Statistics)