Over the last generation changes in the social structure of the family and children's command of an increasing share of family spending have led marketers to cultivate children as an important consumer demographic. The designation "tween," which one marketer refers to as kids "too old for Elmo but too young for Eminem," has become a catchall category that includes kids as young as four and as old as fifteen. Music marketed to children--led by the Disney juggernaut, which promotes superstar acts such as the Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus across television, radio, film, DVDs and CDs, and branded toys, clothing, and electronics--represents a rare "healthy" area of the music industry, whose growth has paralleled the expansion of portable media technologies throughout U.S. consumer culture. The increasing availability of portable media devices, along with the widespread installation of Internet terminals in schools and educators' turn toward corporate-produced "edutainment" for lessons, has reconfigured schools as central sites of children's media consumption. Off-brand MP3 players packaged with cheap and brightly colored earbuds have become more and more affordable, and marketers increasingly target kids with celebrity-branded music devices and innovations like Hasbro's iDog series of toy portable speakers, which fit naturally among children's colorful and interactive collections of toys. At the forefront of the "digital revolution, children are now active--even iconic--users of digital music technologies. This dissertation argues that tweens, as prominent consumers of ascendant music genres and media devices, represent a burgeoning counterpublic, whose expressions of solidarity and group affiliation are increasingly deferred to by mainstream artists and the entertainment industry. We appear to be witnessing the culmination of a process set in motion almost seventy years ago, when during the postwar period marketers experimented with promoting products directly to children, beginning to articulate children as a demographic identity group who might eventually claim independence and public autonomy for themselves. Through long-term ethnographic research at one small community of children at an elementary school in southern Vermont, this dissertation examines how these transformations in the commercial children's music and entertainment industry are revolutionizing they way children, their peers, and adults relate to one another in school. Headphones mediate face-to-face peer relationships, as children share their earbuds with friends and listen to music together while still participating in the dense overlap of talk, touch, and gesture in groups of peers. Kids treat MP3 players less like "technology" and more like "toys," domesticating them within traditional childhood material cultures already characterized by playful physical interaction and portable objects such as toys, trading cards, and dolls that can be shared, manipulated, and held close. And kids use digital music devices to expand their repertoires of communicative practices--like passing notes or whispering--that allow them to create and maintain connections with intimate friends beyond the reach of adults. Kids position the connections and interactions afforded by digital music listening as a direct challenge to the overarching goals around language and literacy that structure their experience of classroom education. Innovations in digital media and the new children's music industry furnish channels and repertoires through which kids express solidarity with other kids, with potentially transformative implications for the role and status of children's in their schools and communities.

This study examines an interesting phenomenon: the educational gap between boys and girls in the United Arab Emirates. Drawing on literature in sociology of gender, sociology of education, and Middle East Studies, this dissertation explores who is and who is not academically achieving (defined through exams results, event drop out rates, and intention to graduate from secondary school) in the United Arab Emirates. Additionally, student and teacher beliefs about the meanings of schooling were investigated. The study begins with a broad picture of academic achievement in the United Arab Emirates then focuses on one emirate, Ras Al Khaimah. Ministry of Education data from the 2007-2008 school year, 42 teacher interviews, and 117 student questionnaires provided data for this study. Ministry of Education data were analyzed using chi square tests to determine which boys and which girls are achieving academically in the United Arab Emirates. This analysis confirmed earlier studies that indicated boys are more likely to drop out and to fail exams than their female counterparts. In addition, non-Emirati boys were found to outperform their Emirati peers. The remainder of the study focused on 9th grade boys and girls and their teachers in Ras Al Khaimah. Through logistic regression of data from the questionnaire, student academic self-concept was found to be a significant predictor of student intent to graduate. In addition, the study sought to examine the purposes of schooling according to teachers and students. Results showed that teachers saw the purpose of school as providing increased employment opportunities for girls and for non-Emirati boys. However, teachers did not think school was for employment for Emirati boys. Students reported different ideas about school. They saw school as a means to learning, as a social outlet, and as link to employment opportunities. The dissertation concluded with implications for theory, research and practice.

Literature on community-based youth programs generally depicts these spaces as valuable settings that support the academic, social, and emotional development of young people (Eccles & Gootman, 2002; Ginwright, 2009; McLaughlin, 2000). However, little research has explored how these organizations and youth workers "frame" and "imagine" the youth they serve. This study employed a critical ethnographic methodology at Educational Excellence (EE), a non-profit community-based educational program, to understand how youth workers' understanding of social, political, and educational problems inform their framing and imagining of Black youth. Participant observation data were triangulated with semi-structured interviews with all youth workers at EE (N=20), focus groups, and document analysis of organizational literature. Findings indicate that multiple tensions in the framing and imagining of Black youth exist among youth workers at EE, which thusly, shapes how they think, what they say and what they actually do. Additionally, findings from this study show that youth workers have to navigate their feelings regarding how society and the educational system imagines and frames Black youth as deficient "problems to be fixed," and their own deep understanding of the multiple ways society and the educational system have failed Black youth. Further, findings also indicate how the current trend toward deficit framing is directly linked to the current neo-liberal educational market, which incentivizes community-based educational spaces to frame youth as socially, culturally, and intellectually deficient in order to successfully compete with charter schools for funding. This study also demonstrates that both an increasingly privatized educational market, as well as youth workers' sense making about the world - causes them to unconsciously perpetuate the deficit imagining of Black youth they strive to erase. The implication of this finding speaks to the individual and organizational struggles of many youth workers, activists, scholars, and educators engaged in social justice work.

Bullying, harassment, and horizontal violence (BHHV) is commonly reported by student nurses during their clinical education. Despite decades of mention in the literature, no instrument is available to specifically measure the student nurse’s experience of BHHV during clinical education. Purpose: The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the experience of BHHV in a population of student nurses matriculating during their clinical education in New York. The experience of BHHV is measured with the BEHAVE Survey, the instrument developed and tested for this purpose. Methods: This dissertation is presented in three-manuscripts: (1) a comprehensive review of the literature using The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Statement as the methodological guide, (2) the initial psychometric testing of BEHAVE (Bulling, harassment, and HorizontAl ViolencE) for validity and reliability at a university-based school of nursing in New York, and (3) a descriptive, quantitative survey of baccalaureate nursing students at a university-based school of nursing in New York completed as a field test of the BEHAVE. Results: Despite variations in methodology, measurement, terms, definitions, and coding of behaviors and sources of BHHV, the findings of this literature review indicate that student nurses are common targets of BHHV during clinical education, regardless of demographic characteristics, disability, sexual orientation, geography location, academic institution or program type. Psychometric testing indicated: scale-level content validity index among experts 0.89, r = 0.97, a Cronbach’s α 0.94, and percent agreement 93% in test-retest reliability. BEHAVE was administered to a total of 32 participants (96.7% participation rate). Approximately 72% reporting current experienced or observed BHHV with 46.8% (36/77) of incidents originated from a nurse. Conclusions: The evidence from both the literature and this field trial suggests that BHHV is a common experience among nursing students. This is significant because student nurses are vulnerable to BHHV and studies including students have been limited to date. Therefore, it behooves the research community to continue to explore the impact of BHHV on the student nurse’s socialization into the professional nursing role. Further knowledge may inform targeted interventions to reduce BHHV and improve the ability of nursing students to minimize the impact of BHHV should it occur.

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The focus of this study is the American military family. The primary purpose is to examine the family from the paradigm of a distinct occupational subculture and, substantiating that existence, to understand the implications of work-family role conflict of the military family. The objectives are to substantiate the military as an occupational subculture and explore military work and family conflict through participative observation techniques and, to a lesser extent, thematic analysis. The research questions are "Is the military an occupational subculture?", and "How does the work-role of the service member affect the family?" A pilot survey instrument based on the seven tenets of an occupational subculture (Trice, 1993) was developed to ascertain the level of subcultural affiliation of the respondents. In total, 78 members of the military (Army) were interviewed using the instrument. Examination of thematic responses from spousal surveys complement the overall analysis. The findings indicate a strong affiliation within the Army that would support the supposition that the Army is an occupational subculture. Respondents exhibited affiliation with all seven tenets above the 75% level that had been established as a benchmark. Taken together, thematic analysis of spouse perceptions viewed through a subcultural paradigm, and service members interviews, converged to demonstrate the probability of the military as a distinct occupational subculture. As such, the military has the capability to influence members and their families through infrastructure (both formal and informal), social, and perceptive requirements. Subcultural forces may provide powerful conformance tools for the membership. Obvious implications for acknowledging the uniqueness of the military family as a distinct subculture within American society are important. To retain a viable fighting force, Army family policy must be responsive and understanding of the military family entity. Preliminary results indicate that further exploration of the military with a subcultural perspective could enhance soldier readiness. Further studies should focus on the military family as the primary support mechanism for soldiers serving in the modern military. Additional study on families leaving the military to a civilian environment would provide insight into the mechanics of subcultural transitions. / Graduation date: 1997

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Sport events have been studied predominantly in isolation from other genres, as single events that have economic or social impacts mainly for urban communities. Yet, the apparent economic and social value of recurring small-scale sport and cultural events in rural communities call for strategic and integrated planning in policies for rural development. This requires that instead of assessing the economic or social benefits of a certain event, a series of interrelated events that comprise a host community's event portfolio can be synergized to derive outcomes through a holistic planning approach that places in concert the economic and social planning of different events. From this perspective, this study examines the event portfolio of a rural community. Ethnographic methods were employed and fieldwork was conducted in Fort Stockton, a small community in South-West Texas. Data collection included participant observation, interviews, review of archival materials and social network analysis. The results show that Fort Stockton's event portfolio is an embedded and eclectic assemblage of sport and cultural performances, collective imaginary and thematic preoccupations of the community that are presented as suitable for spectation. The instrumental connectivity of events bolsters the capacity of the portfolio to serve multiple purposes although strategic cross-leverage is not employed. Thematic continuities among events in the portfolio reaffirm and establish the projected meta-messages within and outside the community. A conceptual synergy lies at the core of each event, which dramatizes the ideological conflict between individualism and collectivism, and translates it to community identity, civic esteem, and economic benefit addressing the public discourse in Fort Stockton and mobilizing resources for event implementations. The institutional framework of Fort Stockton constitutes the basis of its capacity to capitalize on its event portfolio. Event organizers operate within an informal event network that frames their cooperative efforts to host events. Therefore, the event portfolio stands as an embedded system in which an integrated approach is taken about economic and social development by creating synergies between sport and cultural events and in turn using them for consolidating the community and fostering tourism. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications that derive from the study are discussed.

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This study aimed to investigate if the strength of athletic identity affected the rankings (or salience hierarchy) of 6 every-day life roles among 100 elite South African Swimmers. The link between performance and athletic identity was also investigated along with an investigation of the effects of age and gender. There was found to be no interaction between athletic identity and ranking of life roles; only the athlete role was found to be significantly different between high and medium athletic identity groups. A difference was found between elite and non-elite athletes in the ranking of life roles. There was also no association between athletic identity and performance. As age increased athletic identity decreased, and gender was found to have no influence on athletic identity. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2005.