Although medical anthropologists have recently taken up the study of medication use in both developing and developed nations, the medication practices of immigrants remain unstudied. The current research reports on self-medication practices among two California Mexican immigrant communities: immigrant families living along the California-Mexico border, and migrant farm worker families residing in illegal encampments and substandard housing in San Diego's North County. Medication and health seeking practices are found to be influenced by both political-economic forces, and the sociocultural context in which California Mexicans live. The U.S.-Mexico border area is considered as a special context for self-medication, since it permits border-crossing into Tijuana for the purpose of buying Mexican pharmaceuticals at low cost without a prescription. The popularity of injections and the cross-border purchasing of injectable antibiotics and vitamins are discussed as a case study.

This thesis is a study of the perceptions urban American Indians and people of color have toward the Albuquerque Police Department, focusing on the citizen complaint process. Analyzing these perceptions and hearing their experiences provides insight to how these peoples view their local law enforcement similarly and differently from each other and Anglos. While the issues of other peoples of color may be addressed, the needs of the indian community are rarely addressed. Without visibility and advocacy, American Indians are not represented and the issues important to them cannot be heard. Since little has been written on Indian and police relations it is possible to extrapolate from the experiences of other urban communities of color. To better understand the experiences of people of color with the Albuquerque Police Department three research methods are used: citizen complainant satisfaction surveys, interviews with citizen organizations and an individual case study.

The purpose of this study was to apply a diathesis-stress model to the study of Latino self-efficacy and college adjustment. Specifically, it was of interest to determine whether self-efficacy or its subcomponents would buffer Latino students from the effects of stress in college adjustment or its subcomponents. The sample consisted of 144 Latino undergraduate students. Results suggest that although self-efficacy and its subcomponents had a large effect on adjustment and its subcomponents, they were not found to buffer stress. Hence a diathesis-stress model was not supported. Academic self-efficacy did buffer the effects of stress in predicting academic success, and was supportive of a partial diathesis-stress model. Implications of these findings include promoting the importance of having high self-efficacy and attempting to instill it in Latino youth through the educational system.

<p> Patterns from nature and bioculture lead us to become more ethical teachers and learners and can guide wise school design. The research asked if intrapersonal empathy, collaborative nature creativity, and wisdom education are the same phenomenon at different scales that might accurately be called regeneration. This dissertation reviewed the interconnected landscapes of sustainability education, regenerative design, permaculture, emergence, innovation, ecological intelligence, complexity, chaos, natural pattern, biomimicry, and creativity, to weave a complexity web research nexus using a transdisciplinary, feminist, decolonizing lens and Gaian methods. This regenerative fractal emergent inquiry studied four scales of regeneration with eighty participants using multi-level mixed methods with triangulation. The research found that engaging with the planetary system and dynamic living patterns catalyzed breakthrough learning for wisdom. Inspired by symbiotic nature and biocultural connection, learners and learning collectives accessed expanded states of emergent, creative metacognition and ecological intelligence, including level-jumping and scale-slithering as larger emergents. This Gaian emergence, including e/mergence and inmergence, birthed planetary-scale intelligence and creativity and generated sustained increases in regenerativity in designs and enhanced ethical action. Another outcome of this study was the development of a Transdisciplinary Regenerativity Index. Ecofractal patterns, including branching, radiance, flow, packing, vortex, and tapestry, mobilized learners for ecosocial, emergent, earth regenerative creativity. Such emergent creativity is at the heart of wisdom learning and wisdom school design. In earth regenerative education, learners, communities, and learning organizations can embody the living earth in regenerative self-organization for meta-species wisdom and earth innovations to continue to become a part of the living processes of the planetary unfolding.</p>

This study examines the lives of Black "professional" adult educators (both have PhD.s) as they reflect on their respective 20 years of work experience. The primary question to be answered is: How have these women shaped their own professional identity in adult education and to what extent has that process been affected by race and/or gender? A subsidiary and closely linked question is: What lessons are learned by shifting the methodological lens to contemplate the lives of two nondominant people in adult education? Four theoretical constructs bear directly on how the research problem was framed and how the "data" were perceived. Those constructs were: the concept of hegemony, the perspective of African American feminist theory, the perspective of a theory of women's history, and theories of professionalization. / A life history methodology, with a feminist influence, was used in this qualitative study; the data were analyzed using a grounded theory analysis. Two African American adult educators collaboratively engaged with the researcher in open-ended interviews and analysis of emerging concepts during 1992-93. Analysis revealed strategies used by the "co-historians" to overcome gender and racial barriers within their institutions and in the larger society. Findings indicate professional identity for these adult educators was not one of "conversion" to an externally defined symbolic model of an adult educator (no such model exists), rather it was an identity "melded" with personal beliefs and values colored by racial and gendered experiences. Another significant finding is the extent to which the lack of definition and professionalization of the field of adult education seems to affect the necessity for its members to create not only a professional identity but also the necessity to design opportunities for the application of their skills--this is referred to as "intrapreneuring." Life history, in this study, appears to be an important addition to adult education historiography because it accentuates the relationship of the degree of professionalization of the field to the individual practitioner's identity formation. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-08, Section: A, page: 2247. / Major Professor: Peter A. Easton. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships among demands perceived by international graduate students and their spouses, their perception of capabilities to meet the demands, and their adjustment. The variables used in this study were operationalized concepts of the Family Adjustment and Adaptation Response (FAAR) Model. Each variable has more than one indicator (i.e., demands were represented by three indicators of stress, life strains, and college strains; capabilities were measured through two indicators of resources and coping behaviors; and adjustment was represented by two indicators of social functioning and emotional and psychological adjustment). In addition, reliability and validity of a newly developed the Homesickness and Contentment (HC) scale were examined. / Multivariate regression analysis showed that there are significant effects of perceived demands on perceived capabilities, perceived demands on adjustment, and perceived capabilities on adjustment. Analysis of relationships among different indicators of variables were also reported. / Reliability and validity analyses on the HC scales were conducted. The HC scale is a 20-item scale intended to be culturally sensitive to Asian population when measuring emotional and psychological adjustment. The HC scale showed excellent subscale reliability and high global reliability. The scale also showed high factorial construct validity. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-04, Section: A, page: 1851. / Major Professor: Neil Abell. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1996.

This study investigated three feminist themes found in the novels of three prominent black women writers. The study asserts that novelist can be rhetors and that their works can have wide persuasive appeal. The novels chosen represented critically acclaimed works which had the potential to reach a wide audience. Each novel has won a major literary award. / The study involved an examination of structure and presentation of the message and a determination of whether black feminist novels addressed the major issues of the Women's Movement and also to what extent these novels conformed to or rejected the ideology of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960's. / Research on the history of black women novelists led to the formulation of the following research questions: (1) To what extent were black women novelists successful in publishing before 1970? (2) What feminist themes are addressed in these novels? (3) What do professional critics say about these novels? (4) What rhetorical strategies can be found in the works of these novelist? / The study focuses on rhetorical and critical analysis. Aristotelian theory of modes of proof and types of discourse was used to determine the rhetorical structure of the novels. / An overview of the history of black women novelists in America is provided in order to examine the situation that prompted the message as well as to identify the target audience of the rhetor. Additionally, a detailed synopsis of each novel is given. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-10, Section: A, page: 3224. / Major Professor: Gregg Phifer. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

Research that examines the effects of noncognitive variables in the area of academic performance for Black American students is receiving increasing attention. There is growing awareness that academic performance is more than just a function of academic ability. Noncognitive variables have been found to relate to the academic performance of Black American students and are equally as important as the traditional cognitive variables of SAT scores and high school GPA. / The subjects for this research were comprised of one hundred and fifty-nine Black American students in a model teacher education preparation program, Teacher Education for America's Minorities. T.E.A.M. is a consortium of seven southeastern colleges and universities, funded by the Ford Foundation to increase the number of minority graduates out of teacher preparation programs and to institute curricular changes at the institutional level. Thirty-nine and eight tenths percent of the T.E.A.M. population are from historically black institutions and the other 60.2% are from predominantly white institutions representing 5 public universities and 2 private colleges. / Data collection included an SAT total score or a converted ACT composite score as the control variable and five of the eight noncognitive variables identified by Sedlacek & Brooks in 1976 in reviewing the noncognitive predictor studies for minorities. The five predictor variables were: positive self concept, realistic self appraisal, availability of a strong support person, understanding and dealing with racism, and knowledge acquired in a field. Cumulative grade point average, obtained from the last transcript available at the end of the study was used as the criterion variable. / A stepwise multiple regression analysis was used to test the first hypothesis of this study. A two group t-test with a Bonferroni adjustment for a possible family-wise error rate was used to test the second hypothesis. Both hypotheses were found to be significant for positive self concept. The results of this research were consistent with previous findings using the Noncognitive Questionnaire. This research found evidence to support the existing research on noncognitive variables and academic performance for Black American students. The relationship between the five selected noncognitive variables and academic performance was found to be statistically significant and a prediction equation was developed. These findings lend themselves to several future research implications using subsets of the original eight noncognitive factors identified by Sedlacek et al., (1976) for prediction and to explain how academic performance behavior is defined for Black American students. These findings may also be useful in advising for academic support services. (Abstract shortened by UMI.) / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-12, Section: A, page: 3814. / Major Professor: James P. Sampson, Jr. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the understandings and meanings of ethnicity as constructed by preservice teachers within the context of a semester-long, junior level, multicultural education course and to develop grounded theory. The participants in the study included the researcher and 59 preservice teachers. / The methods implemented in this naturalistic, interpretive study included the collection of qualitative data through participant observation, audiotaping of selected class meetings, and document analysis of dialogue journals, reader response journals, and modified case studies of elementary school children. The theoretical framework consisted of constructivism (Von Glasersfeld), multicultural theory (Banks), critical pedagogy (McLaren), and transactional reader response theory (Rosenblatt). / The research questions that guided the development of this study were: (1) What understandings of ethnicity do preservice teachers bring with them to the course? (2) How do preservice teachers construct their understandings of ethnicity? (3) How do preservice teachers make meaning from course-related experiences and other identifiable experiences relating to ethnicity? (4) How do preservice teachers think that their beliefs about ethnicity will influence them in their roles as teachers? / Through inductive analysis three themes emerged: Responding, Understanding, and Envisioning. Responding addresses the preservice teachers' transaction with children's and adult's literature as a validation of their prior experiences, pre-existing beliefs, and personal value systems. Understanding and Envisioning presents a continuum of stages of belief of ascribed ethnicity. The continuum describes stages from Denying Differences to Accepting Differences to Valuing Differences. / It demonstrates a need for teacher educators to assist preservice teachers' understanding that multicultural education is not simply curriculum content, but it includes teaching for equity and the reduction of racism. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-08, Section: A, page: 3028. / Major Professor: Kathryn P. Scott. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

The growth of minority groups in the United States affects consumer spending. Since culture influences many aspects of one's life, companies, educators and public policy makers are paying attention to this growth. In the past research based on Hispanic populations have included mostly Mexican-Americans in the Southwestern United States and have studied product categories other than apparel. The purpose of this research was to identify the demographic characteristics, general lifestyles, apparel-shopping lifestyles, and apparel-shopping patterns of Caribbean Hispanic women, and the relationships among these variables. The mall intercept method was used to collect data through a self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics, correlations, chi-square, factor analysis, one-way ANOVA, multiple linear regression, and discriminant analysis. The sample consisted of 193 women. / Results indicated that Caribbean Hispanic women in this study were more educated and had higher incomes than previously reported for the Hispanic population. The research findings do not support the stereotypical belief and information about Hispanics promoted in trade magazines or the media. Respondents were interested in self enhancement and enjoyed shopping. They paid cash for apparel, worn neutral colors, preferred cotton fabrics, and patronized department stores. Some relationships between lifestyles, demographics and shopping patterns were found. Apparel-shopping lifestyles predicted more shopping patterns than did general lifestyles or demographics. This was significant at.05 level. An apparel-shopping behavior model was proposed. The potential uses of lifestyles to subsegment the Hispanic market should be explored. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-08, Section: B, page: 4280. / Major Professor: Carol Avery. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.