Health and well-being of older adults has become a worldwide public health concern and has been attracting increasing attention from scholars across the globe. But little is known about the health of the Chinese elderly. Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) --Pilot, a pilot survey in 2008 in two provinces of China, Gansu and Zhejiang, this dissertation examines the association between social capital at both the individual- and community- levels and three health outcomes among older adults in China. A series of multi-level models were estimated using SAS 9.2. Statistical results indicate that such individual-level social capital variables as perceived help and support in the future, help from others, and birthplace significantly impacted health among older Chinese adults. When examining the relationship between community-level social capital and health, this study confirms the significant association between community-level social capital and good health independent of individual-level predictors. This study also indicates that the impact of gender and rural-urban Hukou status interacts with the province of residence. The results were discussed in terms of cultural legacy in the Chinese cultural setting, the current social dynamics related to old age support, health-related government reforms, and various disparities across different regions and across different social groups in China.

This study examined the influence of positive youth development factors and social capital on outcomes among youth in group home care. One of the major assumptions of this study was that existing research is deficit-focused and provides little evidence of what practices are linked to positive outcomes among youth residing in and exiting group homes. A conceptual model was developed to depict the influence of predictors (derived from the Positive Youth Develop Framework and Social Capital Theory) on youth outcomes – change in psychosocial problem severity and prosocial behavior, living environment, school involvement, employment, delinquency, and extracurricular activity. An exploratory analysis of secondary data was conducted. Multiple regression and binary logistic regression were used to answer the overarching question, What group home factors correlate with positive outcomes among youth? Major findings from these analyses showed: 1) group home staff’s positive view of youths’ competence impacted youths’ psychosocial problem severity, and 2) for youth who exhibited troublesome behavior while in group care, if they experienced a trusting relationship with an adult staff member, they are more likely to exhibit prosocial behaviors after leaving group care.

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Hikaru Hanawa Peterson / Over the past few decades, the prevalence of obesity and diet-related diseases has steadily increased and become a major public health concern. Part of the problem has been attributed to the large quantity of unhealthy (energy-dense) foods U.S. consumers include in their diets. Statistics on food environment suggest that some areas and households have easier access to fast food restaurants and convenience stores but limited access to supermarkets. Limited access to nutritious food and relatively easier access to less nutritious food have been shown to lead to poor diets and, ultimately, to obesity and diet-related diseases. These issues may more negatively affect some communities than others, particularly rural communities as they tend to be further away from food outlets compared to urban areas. Counties are classified as food deserts based upon the percentage of residents living below the federal poverty line and the percentage of residents residing more than one mile from a supermarket. This definition excludes many viable food outlet options, including smaller independently-owned groceries. With rural residents being at a greater disadvantage, it becomes important to consider smaller groceries as an alternative for these communities. The level of social capital may be an indicator of an area’s willingness to support its community. The social environment of rural communities can be characterized as having a high degree of interconnectedness within the community, so that “everybody knows everybody else” (Beggs, Haines, & Hurlbert, 1996). This unique social network in rural communities facilitates the buildup of social capital, which incorporates reciprocity and the willingness to do things for members within the network. This study finds a negative relationship between obesity and social capital in nonmetropolitan counties, as well as a negative relationship between obesity rates and rural grocery stores. These conclusions lend insight into ways to decrease the level of obesity in rural areas.

Master of Science / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Stephanie Rolley / Small group creative practice has the potential to set the conditions necessary to develop or strengthen community networks, as a form of social capital, in a disempowered, traumatized community. Traumatized communities require the process of building social capital to begin at an earlier point than in other communities and by addressing the background of trauma first. Case studies of three programs present the opportunity to inform the design of future development work with disempowered, traumatized communities like those of many women in countries engaged in armed conflict. The case studies examined are a government founded shelter for abused women; a localized project to teach agricultural skills; and a project to teach women artistic skills as a therapeutic exercise to build trust levels necessary to increase networks. Social capital provided perspective for examining the bonds between individuals and groups and how they affect individuals’ access to resources. Framed by a literature review, the case studies synthesized literature and first hand experiences and knowledge. A question protocol was used to query the case studies in order to identify best practices. The literature review demonstrated that the most reliable indicators of social capital are trust and association and suggests accepted indicators for each. By querying the case studies, it was determined that best practices for a project designed to build social capital in disempowered, traumatized communities include stipulations on the size of groups, how time is scheduled for informal interaction, identifying indicators of trust, and how conditions for group outcomes were met. This study found that, with an intentional design focus on group outcomes, as well as with attention to other best practices, creative practice is a viable method to increase the levels of trust necessary to set conditions for further development of social capital in the identified communities.

The study is about enterprises in the formal and informal sectors in sub-Saharan Africa and consists of three separate but connected essays. The first essay examines whether or not structural reforms in the business regulatory environment, trade sector, and the financial sector, can influence access to debt financing for investment by enterprises in sub-Sahara Africa. The data is from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys. The analyses involve panel data models. The results are indicative that taken together; structural policy reforms reduce debt-financing constraints. Reforms in the business regulatory environment and the financial sector increase the likelihood of access to debt financing. However, for trade, beyond a threshold, further reductions in the tariff and non-tariff barriers make it harder for enterprises to obtain debt financing. These results have implications for the type of reforms pursued in various countries. The second essay examines how social capital, education, and liquidity constraints influence the decision of an entrepreneur to operate either in the formal or informal sector. For enterprises that did not register and operating for less than five years, there is evidence that the likelihood of running in the informal sector, as opposed to the formal sector, decreases with the entrepreneurial level of education while social capital increases this likelihood. However, for enterprises in the informal sector, operating for over five years, liquidity constraints impedes formalisation. In the long run, the decision to stay informal or formalise depends on funding constraints, the incidence of taxes in the formal sector and the perception that there are no benefits from operating in the formal sector. The third essay is about the relationship between enterprises in the formal and informal sector and aims to uncover, at least in part, whether or not social and human capitals are important in facilitating the linkages between enterprises in the formal and the informal sectors. The analysis involves flexible binary generalised extreme value models. The results are indicative that for both male and female entrepreneurs, social and human capitals have significant positive real effects on the likelihood of linkages. / October 2016

Prior studies have shown that students who are the first in their families to attend college fail to persist in college more so than their continuing-generation (CG) counterparts do. Prior research on this phenomenon has helped to identify various factors that contribute to the lower college persistence of first-generation (FG) students. For example, social capital has been identified as a factor that improves student persistence in college. Prior studies have shown that FG students tend to enter college with lower social capital than their CG student counterparts do. Additionally, while in school, FG students tend not to engage in behaviors that can help them in the creation of social capital. There has been growing research on how Internet communication technologies (ICTs) may be used as a resource in the creation of social capital. Specifically, there have been several studies that have examined how the Internet has provided opportunities for the creation of both bonding (relationships with persons inside one's cultural network, like family and close friends) and bridging (persons outside one's cultural network) forms of social capital. This study used a non-experimental design approach to compare the differences in technology-enabled bonding (TEBD) and technology-enabled bridging (TEBR) behaviors of FG and CG students. This study also used a predictive design approach aimed at predicting the persistence in college of first-year students based on the contributions of TEBD and TEBR behaviors, as well as socioeconomic status (SES) and high school grade point average (GPA). Finally, this study sought to develop and validate an instrument that could reliably measure the TEBD and TEBR behaviors of college students for use in future studies. A sample of 316 full-time first- to second-year students at a small, private, college in the Midwestern United States were surveyed on the dimensions of their TEBD (emotional support, access to resources, and sociability behavior) and TEBR (involvement in campus activities, contact with others unlike themselves, sociability behaviors, and academic activities) behaviors, as well as three dimensions of SES (parental education, parental income, and parental occupations) and high school GPA. Findings of this study showed there was no significant difference in the TEBD and TEBR behaviors of FG and CG students, which in itself is significant. Additionally, this study found high school GPA and one dimension of SES (parental income) to be positive predictors of student persistence in college. This study also found one dimension of TEBD (access to resources), one dimension of TEBR (contact with others unlike themselves), and one dimension of SES (parental occupation), to be negative predictors of student persistence in college. This study made the following three important contributions: 1) the development of an instrument for measuring TEBD and TEBR behaviors of college students; 2) an investigation of the differences in TEBD and TEBR behaviors of FG and CG students; and, 3) an investigation of key constructs that contribute to student persistence from their first-to-second year of college. Recommendations for future research were made which included extending this research to 1) include other types of technology communication devices, such as cell phones; 2) examine the contributions of TEBD and TEBR to persistence in college between semesters; 3) improve the methodology for collecting survey data; and 4) investigate if there are significant differences between FG and CG students on the amount of time spent online engaged in social and academic activities, as well as examine if time spent online is a predictor of student persistence in college.

This study examines the perceptions of low socioeconomonic status, high academic achievement Vietnamese middle grades students in the Vietnamese community with respect to the roles that their parents and communities play in supporting academic achievement. Previous research has established the positive relationships between parent involvement and student achievement, and between high SES and student achievement. However, this study explores the perceptions of high achieving middle grades students with low SES. Through focus group discussions and interviews, this study examines student achievement within the theoretical framework of social capital.

Freud parlait au siècle dernier de Malaise dans la civilisation (Freud, 1929), notre siècle ne cache-t-il pas un malaise tout aussi profond ? En effet, nous pouvons penser que la somme des contraintes aujourd'hui dépasse la capacité d'adaptation des individus et de leurs réseaux familiaux et sociaux ; le recours aux addictions devient alors pour beaucoup une stratégie de survie ou un mécanisme de contrôle pour garder un équilibre psychosocial. Tout se passe dans la réalité de la prise en charge des addictions en lien ou pas avec un trouble psychiatrique ou inversement, comme si l'individu agissait dans un ensemble social vide. Or, le contexte social - et Freud a été un des premiers à le démontrer - interagit selon la tradition interactionniste sur tous les comportements déviants. Notre travail a pour objectif de mettre en lumière les apports des sciences sociales et plus particulièrement de la sociologie dans la compréhension des addictions. En effet, il est admit aujourd'hui que les approches purement médicales qu'elles soient somatiques ou cognitives, n'ont su répondre aux attentes des patients et des professionnels de santé. Nous proposons donc au travers de cette étude de démontrer que l'approche sociologique des addictions peut nous aider à la fois à comprendre pourquoi un individu à un moment de sa vie se laisse prendre dans un comportement à risque et comment nous pouvons essayer de l'accompagner à retrouver un état de plaisir.L'enjeu est de comprendre l'addiction au travers de l'histoire sociale de l'individu. nous savons que nous pouvons modifier nos comportements pour préserver notre état de santé. / In the last century, Freud spoke of "Discontents in Civilisation" (Freud, 1929), our century not hide a deeper malaise ?Indeed, we can think that the sum of the constraints, now exceed the adaptive capacity of individuals and their family and social networks, that the use of addictions become so much a survival strategy or a control mechanism to keep a psychosocial balance. Everything happens in the reality of the management of addictions related or not with a psychiatric disorder or vice versa, as if the individual was in an empty social world. However, the social context - and Freud was one of the first to demonstrate - interacts according to interactionist tradition on all deviant behavior. One of our aims is to highlight the contributions of the social sciences and especially sociology in understanding addictions. Indeed, he is admitted today that purely medical approaches, somatic or cognitive, haven't met the expectations of patients and health professionals. We therefore propose to demonstrate through this study that the sociological approach to addictions can help us both to understand why an individual at a time of his life gets caught in a risky behavior and how we can try to help him regain a state of pleasure. The challenge is to understand the addiction through the social history of the individual. The various models proposed so far are failures for normative reasons. However, we know that we can change our behavior to preserve our health. We propose a model of care that takes into account both an individualized management over the long term and the social history of each.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / The main aim of this study was to make contributions to the body of literature on social enterprises, and more specifically in an African context. The nascent nature of social enterprises as an organisational structure is one of the reasons that the body of research and literature is not as expansive as other more established research fields. Social enterprises differ from traditional commercial enterprises in that they bridge the gap between commercial growth, and social and economic development goals. For the purpose of this study, social enterprises refer to any business that pursues commercial activity to address a social problem. They are becoming more noticeable as a driver of sustainable job creation, service delivery, social development and economic growth. Ensuring their sustainability is expected to have positive economic consequences, which is why studying social enterprise sustainability is important and even more so for developing countries. Qualitative methodology was used to collect data. Purposive sampling was employed to select the sample that was included in the case study in Cape Town. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather information. The data was analysed using content thematic analysis to explore and interpret the meaning of the participants’ views and experiences. A networking approach of the social capital theory was used as the theoretical framework that provided a guide on the discussion of the findings. For the purpose of this study, social capital was defined as the resources embedded in networks. The findings indicated that the social entrepreneurs’ did not consider networking as the sole contributing factor to social enterprise sustainability, but rather the contribution of multidimensional factors. The resources embedded in networks that were considered valuable were: 1. Information and innovation, 2. Credibility, 3. Mentorship and advice, and 4. Support. The participants also gave their opinions on policies that would create favourable conditions for sustainable social enterprises i.e. information accessibility, public-private partnerships, and education and training. This study makes contributions to literature in an African context and to social enterprise practice.

Student Number : 0206926T - PhD thesis - School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies - Faculty of Science / The overarching objective of this thesis is to determine causes of food insecurity in southern Africa, and how it can best be addressed. This objective is addressed through a number of research questions and methods at three geographic scales: the regional, through a technique of meta-analysis which is used to synthesise 49 local-level household economy case studies; the provincial, through a Delphi panel of practitioner experience; and the local, using multiple research techniques, including participatory methods. An extremely diverse range of factors contributing to food-insecurity are found at all three scales, indicating that community- and household-specific dynamics give rise to forms of food insecurity. Two common processes, however, are argued to be common across all the casestudy communities in the regional-scale research. These are the closely related processes of cycles of intensifying vulnerability associated with livelihood ‘trade-offs’, and of communitylevel social capital changing into forms that undermine resilience to food insecurity - such as the decline in two-parent families. A further probing of social capital at the local level suggests that while social capital takes multiple forms, and further remains in many respects a problematic concept, it nevertheless provides a valuable lens through which powerful social dynamics might be examined in developing responses to food insecurity. Policy makers and change agents should carefully consider their role in building community social-capital that might enhance the ability of vulnerable communities to overcome livelihood constraints and adapt to the tremendous challenges posed by changing economic environments in southern Africa. Drawing on the research at all scales, a framework is provided that calls for a reconceptualisation of food-security interventions to focus on intervention processes, applicable at all scales and in all contexts across the region. The development of social capital, participation, co-ordination and learning interactions are explored as central elements in these processes. The framework asks for closer attention to both the appropriate mechanisms (such as policy) necessary to effect change, and the human dimensions that give these mechanisms agency. The findings of the thesis represent an additional shift in understanding food security to acknowledge that the value of a political economic interpretation of food security is limited independent of an understanding of the cross-scale social networks and relational interactions that ultimately configure and reconfigure it.