Thesis (M.A.)--Cornell University. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 237-247). Also available in print.

The pioneer study of A. B. Hollingshead and F. C. Redlich, recorded in their book, Social Class and Mental Illness, indicates that social class is related to a number of factors pertaining to mental illness. Subsequent studies prompted by this work have examined some of these factors. All of these investigations were carried out in the United States in various mental health settings. It became our purpose to examine the relevance of these factors in a Canadian mental hospital setting. Three hypotheses were postulated. First, that social class would be related to the type of treatment received in the hospital. Second, that the duration of stay in the hospital would be related to social class. And, third, that the patient's level of improvement upon discharge from the hospital would be related to social class. Routinely collected data from Riverview Provincial Mental Hospital were used to test these hypotheses. No statistically significant relationships were found between social class and of the three dependent variables. However, it was noted that the higher social class levels of psychotics, as measured by the educational index, seemed to receive more electro-convulsive therapy and group therapy than was the case with any other diagnostic category. Possibly this trend could be persued in subsequent studies. Also, duration of stay was not considered to be an important variable because of the relatively short stay of the majority of all persons admitted to the hospital. It was concluded that the definition of treatment was too narrow. Electroconvulsive therapy and group therapy were the most amenable to statistical examination. However, it is widely recognized that milieu therapy is a major form of treatment in Riverview Hospital and therefore, should be included in any consideration of treatment in subsequent studies. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / [Other authors, Allan Lloyd Failing Mary Louise Ferguson Pamela Dawn Gaudette Roberta Miriam Jauck Gordon Edward McLeod] / Graduate

Research has shown that there is an occupational prestige hierarchy, stable over time and from subpopulation to subpopulation. Occupations in the central part of the hierarchy, the so-called "middle range" occupations, are, however, subject to relatively high variability. The explanation commonly advanced for prestige ratings is the "rewards hypothesis". That is, perceptions (not necessarily accurate) of occupational rewards, operationally defined as occupational characteristics, determine prestige. If this explanation is viable, it ought to be possible to trace the learning of prestige judgments and of the rewards which determine them. Since age differences between older and younger adults and usually between older adolescents and adults do not seem significant, it was hypothesized that the learning of rewards and hence the hierarchy begins in early childhood. Inhelder and Piaget's theory of the development of logical thinking was advanced as a rationale for the increased similarity between adults' and maturing children's perceptions of the hierarchy. The child learns to appreciate the rewards appreciated by adults, and what rewards are thought to be gained from participation in various occupations. As his reasoning abilities improve, he is increasingly able to weigh these rewards "accurately", and so increasingly comes to view prestige as adults do. Previous research, concerned with "reasons" given by subjects for assigning high prestige ratings, with task learning, and with a number of other behaviours, has shown that different social class members have preferences for different rewards. On the basis of these findings, it was hypothesized that higher status individuals appreciate psychic and deferred rewards more than, .immediate rewards less than, and material rewards to the same degree as lower status individuals. The subjects were boys of 9-10, 12-13, 15-l6, and 17-18, chosen equally from "blue" and "white collar" backgrounds. Boys were chosen because more study of males than females has been carried out. The occupations studied were from the "middle range", since it was assumed that variability is a function of social class reward preference differences. The characteristics chosen, operationally defined as deferred-psychic, deferred-material, deferred, immediate-psychic, immediate-material, and material, were "power", "security", "education", "good working conditions", "income during training", and "average income". The study was modelled on that of the N.O.R.C. and Duncan's analysis of those data. Spearman's r was used to test the hypothesis that the older the subject group, the greater the similarity between their perceptions and those of an adult, group. This hypothesis was supported. Variance explained was used as a test of the hypothesis that this phenomenon would he paralleled by-increasing power of rewards perceptions to predict prestige. This hypothesis was not supported; although prestige perceptions were significantly correlated with most reward perceptions, the correlations were low and much the same at all age levels. Step-regression analysis was used to test the hypothesis that subjects from different social class backgrounds would show preferences for different rewards. Differences in the predicted directions were found for four out of the six operational hypotheses and for two of the four theoretical hypotheses. These differences were not marked. It was concluded that the data were reliable, but that reward perception measurements are not a valid predictor of the prestige of the middle range occupations. Methodological influences on the data were considered, special attention being given to "halo effects" and to familiarity of the subjects with the occupations being rated. A possible explanation for the findings in previous research of a high relationship between prestige and rewards perceptions is that verbal behaviour rather than rewards perception biases were being tapped. Several suggestions for further research were made. A study similar in design to this one, but including the occupations at the extreme ends of the hierarchy, would show if the results of this study can be generalized to all occupational prestige ratings. Further study should be made of children's perceptions of prestige; more knowledge of these would be useful in the modification of the rewards hypothesis or in the development of an alternative to it. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

This research project was undertaken to determine if there are social class differences in the pre-hospitalization and post-hospitalization experiences of individuals defined as mentally ill. Social class was defined through the application of educational level and occupational status. The data obtained from the Riverview Hospital covered a two year period from April 1, 1965 through March 31, 1967. Three main hypotheses were formulated to deal with the following topics: (1) The relationship between social class and employment. (2) The relationship between social class and duration of illness prior to admission to hospital. (3) The relationship between social class and contact with family or relatives. Significant trends were found to exist. Representative of these were: (1) Relating social class and employment before admission to hospital and following discharge from hospital, more higher class subjects than lower class subjects were employed before admission to and following discharge from hospital. (2) Relating social class and the period of mental illness prior to hospitalization, the results show more higher class subjects than lower class hospitalized within a one year period for psychotic mental illness. The findings of this research project support the stated hypotheses, confirm the results shown by other studies, opened new areas for further research, and indicated possible application of findings for social work practice. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

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Thesis (M.A.)--香港中文大學. / Manuscript. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 185-189). / Thesis (M.A.)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue.

Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong. / Bibliography: leaves 165-183.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Berkeley, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 423-466).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2003. / Zhi dao jiao shou: Li Peiliang jiao shou (Prof. Rance Pui-leung Lee) 880-03 Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, November, 2003. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 194-206)