There are often large mean differences between Blacks and Whites on the general mental ability tests used in selection systems. These large mean differences between subgroups can result in adverse impact against Blacks in selection contexts. Therefore, finding ways to reduce subgroup differences, and thus adverse impact, is important. This study investigated whether or not large mean differences between Blacks and Whites would be reduced by using alternative testing modalities (e.g., video-based testing, oral responses). To this end, a theoretical framework is provided through which it was hypothesized that an individual's culture leads to differences in cognitive style. Differences in cognitive style may explain the mean differences found on traditional paper-and-pencil and alternative modality examinations. Analyses of three archival data samples collected for a police department in a southern city were conducted to test the hypothesized theoretical framework. These samples included individuals taking employment tests for the positions of Recruit, Sergeant, and Captain. The results indicated that in some cases, using alternative modalities and test response formats did reduce Black-White subgroup differences. A variety of boundary conditions are provided that may explain some of the aberrant results found. Finally, a discussion of how the results fit within the theoretical framework of culture and cognitive style is provided / acase@tulane.edu

This study documents the history of Chinese immigrants who settled on the Atlantic Coast of Costa Rica during the late nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century. Despite strongly racist sentiments against Asians and other immigrants, the Chinese adapted successfully on the Coast, in large measure, due to the fact that they retained basic aspects of their cultural identity, expressed through a number of institutions which were essential to their successful adaptation. Based on a pragmatism that allowed them to exploit to the maximum extent those opportunities available to them, the Chinese community structured the provision of logistic, social and economic support to its members, through family organizations, credit unions, and the elders' council. The Chinese associations were a social response designed to meet those needs not met by the family associations, particularly with respect to defending the community's interests and reinforcing group identity As uneducated peasants with only the most rudimentary skills in the language and cultural traditions of Hispanic society, the immigrants chose pragmatically the means of subsistence that required the minimal skills, and settled in areas, such as the Atlantic Coast, that provided the best opportunities to newcomers Success in commerce was based on such cultural traditions as a strong work ethic and a pragmatic, opportunistic exploitation of social needs, unhindered by the social values and obligations held by others on the Coast. Rapid success in commerce meant a virtual monopoly in certain areas of the economy, such as the sale of liquor and the lottery. Adaptation also meant establishing unions with Hispanic women and acquiring Costa Rican nationality The descendants of pure Chinese and Chinese-Hispanic unions who were born and raised on the Coast assimilated to Hispanic society, and the older immigrants attempted to enforce, through informal means, more rigid ethnic boundaries and reinforce ethnic identity through the establishment of a school Social tension continues to be generated by the pull between those who wish to retain cultural identity through isolationist measures and those who see the need for greater participation in Hispanic society. The result has been an attempt to redefine ethnic boundaries to include assimilated elements of the community The arrival in large numbers of Taiwanese immigrants, though troublesome to the Mainlanders, has elicited some solidary responses from the latter, in what may be a repetition of previous events in the history of Chinese immigration in Costa Rica / acase@tulane.edu

The purpose of this study was to examine the clustering effect of work and family role stressors and strain, mediated by family resource and coping strategy, on quality of life using the Double ABCX model. On the basis of previous literature and stress theory, the theoretical model was specified, estimated, and evaluated for adequacy of statistical fit for samples of Korean-American dual-earner families in Los Angeles, California. Separate estimates for 153 wives and 117 husbands were obtained using LISREL analysis. / Although the initial model was not supported by the data, the revised model fitted the data adequately for wives and husbands, respectively. In the revised model, there was reciprocal effect of family system resource and coping strategy for wives. For husbands, there was the direct effect of family role stressor on family system resource. / The theoretical model for wives also represented a generalization of family stress theory while the model for husbands did not. That is, wives' work-family role strain was intensified by the amount of work and family role stressors. Also, family system resource was an important mediating factor in decreasing work-family role strain and in increasing quality or life for the wives of Korean-American dual-earner families. For the husbands, however, neither work-family role strain or family system resource acted as a mediating factor. This study contributed to the literature in work-family role strain and family stress theory, and should be of interest to researchers and family life educators. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-04, Section: A, page: 1287. / Major Professor: Elizabeth B. Goldsmith. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

Ethnic differentials in birth outcome are significant. Currently, a black infant is at twice the risk of dying before age one than either a non-Hispanic white or an Hispanic infant. The role of culture has received little attention as a determinant of infant mortality. / Culture is defined as an "evaluative conversation constructed by actors out of the raw materials afforded by tradition and ongoing experience" (Hammel, 1990). This definition is consistent with that of race and ethnicity as socially constructed concepts (Bean and Tienda, 1987; Hummer, 1993a). Thus, it is argued that some observed differences related to infant mortality among ethnic groups result from different cultural backgrounds. / Family structure, arguably a cultural characteristic, is expected to have an impact on birth outcome. The linkages between family structure and birth outcome are availability of financial resources and role models for observational learning (Bandura, 1977). Ethnic differences in the likelihood of births to unwed mothers is also viewed as culturally based. Leslie (1995) suggests that African and African American culture views out-of-wedlock births as "mistakes", not as "sins". Thus, unwed motherhood represents a "normative" state when viewed from an Afrocentric perspective. The final cultural variable, financial aid from relatives, is included to partially compensate for the fact that our primary family composition measure is household-based. / Cultural, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status are seen as prior determinants of birth outcome. Intermediate factors include socio-demographic characteristics, maternal behaviors and attitudes, and maternal health. Proximate determinants are health care and infant birth weight. The outcome variable is infant mortality which is grouped into three categories: (1) lived, (2) died from endogenous causes, and (3) died from exogenous causes. / The model is tested using the 1988 National Maternal and Infant Health Survey. Logistic regression is used to fit the data to the model. / This dissertation contributes to the study of infant mortality by conceptually linking cultural practices and behaviors to birth outcomes. It develops a multidimensional set of household-based family structure variables and conceptually links them to birth outcome. It tests the existence of these linkages on samples of non-Hispanic whites, blacks, and Mexican Americans, the three largest ethnic groups in the U.S. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-08, Section: A, page: 3326. / Major Professor: Isaac W. Eberstein. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

The purposes of the study were: (1) to examine the perceptions of students across a number of socio-economic and demographic categories; (2) to gauge their satisfaction with home responsibilities and attitude toward family; and (3) to identify perception of teachers' expectations as they related to student's expectation to graduate. Of particular interest was the pattern of interrelationship on selected variables for Hispanic female students as an ethnic-gender group, when compared to Hispanic males, non-Hispanic females, non-Hispanic males and all others. The variables included in this study were: satisfaction with home responsibilities; attitude toward family; student's perception of teachers' expectations; and student's expectation to graduate. / The study sample consisted of 406 eighth grade students enrolled in an urban public school. The six schools were chosen by stratified random sampling. All of the eighth graders were surveyed including the limited-English-proficient, bilingual (Spanish) and students with learning disabilities. A questionnaire was developed and administered, which provided the basis on which to measure the four variables of interest in this study. / Five multiple regression models developed and analysed. The significance of the regression co-efficient were assessed the Alpha value of.05. / Results of the multiple regression analysis revealed that for the entire population, all three independent variables were found to be significant. For Hispanic Females, the variables Student's Satisfaction with Home Responsibilities and Student's Expectation to Graduate were found to be significant. For Hispanic Males, only Student's Expectation to Graduate was found to be significant. Other Females the variables, Student's Attitude toward family and Student's Expectation to Graduate were found to be significant. Like the Hispanic Males, Other males also found Student's Perception of Teacher's Expectation to be significant. For All Other Groups (combination of Hispanic Males, Other Females, and Other Males) the variable Student's Perception of Teachers' Expectations was found to be significant. / The results of this study seem to indicate that there is an interrelationship between home and school values as they related to the expectations of Hispanic females to graduate from high school. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-04, Section: A, page: 1541. / Major Professor: Byron Massialas. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

Modern Ukrainian Paganism is a new religious movement that draws upon beliefs and practices from over a thousand years ago. It represents a mode of resistance to both the political oppression of Ukraine and the dominant position of Christianity in that country. Paganism spread among the urban Ukrainian intelligentsia in the North American diaspora after World War II, and developed actively in Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Today, while experiencing a great decline in the diaspora, it is rapidly growing in Ukraine, involving many different Pagan communities and thousands of believers. / Pagans draw on a variety of sources including both historical chronicles containing information about old Slavic mythology and contemporary rural folklore that is believed to maintain remnants of the old pagan worldview. Although many folkloric forms have been appropriated by the Christian church, contemporary Pagans consider these elements to have originated in pre-Christian times and reclaim them for their own needs. / This work is the first extended study of Ukrainian Paganism in its post-Soviet East European context and in the North American diaspora, simultaneously comparing it with Western Paganism. It is based on ethnographic fieldwork, including participant observation of rituals and interviews with Pagans in both Ukraine and North America, as well as on archival and published materials. / While focusing predominantly on the revival of pagan folklore within this movement, this thesis demonstrates how the imagined past has become important for constructing an alternative national identity in modern contexts of socio-political turmoil. The thesis suggests that this cultural revival often has little to do with historical reality, since there is limited primary information available. Like other revivals, it involves the construction of new cultural forms through creative interpretations of the ancestral past. Moreover, the obscurity of the past allows individualistic interpretations that result in many variations of similar forms. These forms are examined in their relationship to the concepts of nationalism, gender, charisma and power, religious syncretism, and aesthetics. This work is multidisciplinary in nature as it draws upon theoretical frameworks developed in fields of folkloristics, anthropology, sociology, cultural studies and art criticism. It contributes to the understanding of modern cultural processes that shape the national consciousness of people in various parts of the world.

This interpretive study examines how narratives and collective memories about the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict affect the identities of Jewish Israeli Americans and Palestinian Americans today. In contrast to Charles Tilly's (2002) assumption that identity stories and their salience are chiefly generated at the boundary between groups, I demonstrate that perceptions of conflict, and not just direct experience with conflict, are significant in identity formation and maintenance process. To make this argument I bring together several literatures. These include conflict theory, segmented assimilation theory, social memory theory, transnationalism literature and account/narrative/storytelling qualitative methods. I explore perceptions of homeland conflict drawn from various sources, such as direct experiences, stories passed down through the family, media coverage and personal connections in the homeland, and compare the effects these perceptions have on Jewish Israeli and Palestinian American identity. Despite all of the emphasized differences between these seemingly opposing groups, I will show how both Palestinian and Jewish Israeli Americans are greatly influenced by strife in their shared homeland. Both groups are tired of the violence and ready for peace. Beyond this overarching--and all too often overlooked--commonality, there are distinct group-level differences in how conflict shapes identity from afar, by generational status and by ethnic group. For first generation individuals, the major links are having been raised in a society permeated by conflict and maintaining social connections there. The second generation is mainly influenced by the stories imparted upon them by their parents. Palestinian Americans believe they have less choice in having their lives and identities shaped by homeland conflict for three main reasons: first, their experience of having been forcefully exiled and refused the right of return or recognition as a nation; second, the perceived misrepresentation of and bias against Palestinians, Muslims and Arabs in the American media; and third, their belief that their host country, the United States, is supportive of Israel and its military incursions upon the people of Palestine. My claims are substantiated by the twenty-nine in-depth, open-ended interviews I conducted first and second generation Jewish Israeli Americans and Palestinian Americans, all from the Triangle region of North Carolina. / Dissertation

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, School of Education, 2007. / Title from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 24, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-02, Section: A, page: 0514. Adviser: Chalmer E. Thompson.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: . Adviser: Fazal Rizvi. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 172-174) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: . Adviser: Violet Harris. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 298-319) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.