The purpose of this study was two-fold. The first intention was to identify a group of debtor characteristics that predicted discharge among Chapter 13 bankruptcy filers in the district of Utah from 1997. The second objective was to use that same set of characteristics to predict the likelihood of dismissal at three critical stages of the bankruptcy process. Those stages were identified, first, as the period before the 341 hearing or meeting of creditors (n = 115 or 12.7%), second, before confirmation of the debtor's repayment plan (n = 267 or 29.4%), third, the period after confirmation of the plan and before discharge (n = 286 or 31 .5%). Once the best group of characteristics was discovered, the effects of demographic characteristics were compared against those of economic debtor characteristics as predictors of the outcome of the Chapter 13 cases. The results of the study show that demographic characteristics were, in general, better predictors than economic factors of the disposition of the Chapter 13 cases within the sample. Discharged and dismissed debtors were found to have statistically significantly different levels of certain types of debts based on pairwise t-test results. Although limited to one district, this study was the first to examine the likelihood of dismissal at three stages of bankruptcy prior to discharge. The study concluded that single debtors, debtors with children, debtors with previous bankruptcies, and those with higher levels of mortgage arrears were the most likely to be dismissed before completion of their repayment plan. Plan completion was generally achieved by those with higher job tenure and debtors with a mortgage. The results of the study support arguments against changes in current bankruptcy law and warrant further investigation of low Chapter 13 repayment plan completion rates in the district of Utah.

Participants for this investigation were 146 kindergarten teachers and 436 parents of kindergarteners in Davis and Weber School Districts. Self-administered questionnaires were utilized, 1) to determine if teachers, mothers and fathers believe that parents could do more to prepare children for kindergarten, 2) to delineate what each group believes parents can do, 3) to investigate what mothers and fathers have done in preparing their children for kindergarten, 4) to explore what skills teachers, mothers and fathers credit as most important for children to possess upon kindergarten entry, and 5) to examine what skills these three groups feel should be emphasized in the kindergarten curricula. A variety of statistical analyses were used to compare teachers', mothers' and fathers' responses to the above questions. Major findings suggest that teachers differ significantly from do mothers and fathers in believing that parents could do more to prepare children for kindergarten. Additional differences were found in the nature of what the three groups felt parents could do, with parents mentioning intellectual skills significantly more often than teachers. Results also suggest that mothers more than fathers indicate that they take an active role in preparing their children for kindergarten. Teachers, mothers and fathers generally agree about which skills children should possess when they go to kindergarten. Listening, feeling confident, and following directions were found to be ranked highest in importance with writing and reading skills perceived as least important. All three groups held similar attitudes toward the kindergarten curricula, holding that a wide variety of skills are important and should be emphasized in kindergarten programs. The implications of current findings for parents and teachers are discussed.

Childhood immunization is acknowledged as being a crucial health intervention for children. Immunization rates of children may vary depending on their parents' knowledge and attitudes about the issue. The focus of this study is on parents' knowledge and attitudes about immunization, and employs Urie Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory. A questionnaire was administered to 233 parents in India to explore the issues of parental immunization knowledge and attitudes. Correlates of parental knowledge and attitudes that were explored included gender, education, respondents' immunization status, and children's immunization status. Sources of parental knowledge about immunization were also examined. Overall, parents in this sample had a high level of awareness and positive attitudes about immunization. Parents' knowledge about immunization was correlated with their attitudes on immunization. Gender was correlated with parents' knowledge about immunization, but not their attitudes, with females having greater awareness about immunization than males. Parental education, parental immunization status, and children's immunization status were positively correlated with both knowledge and attitudes about immunization. Doctors and health care settings were the major sources of information abo ut immunization for parents in this sample. Implications for research, policy, and education are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes of children toward the dental visit. A group of children who had undergone dental treatment with the use of nitrous oxide-oxygen served as the experimental group while children who had received dental treatment without the use of nitrous oxide-oxygen served as the control group. Attitudes toward the dental experience among these two groups were compared to determine any differences or similarities due to the type of treatment used. Data were also collected on the parents of the children to determine whether the child's attitude toward the dental visit tended to reflect the attitude toward dentistry as expressed by the accompanying parent. Forty- five children between the ages of four and ten years old were asked t o identify a hypothetical child depicted in three specific situations as being either "Happy" or "Sad." The three situations were defined as follows : (1) A child coming from the ice cream shop, (2) A child who just cut a finger, and (3) A child just leaving the dentist's office. The parents in this study were asked to rate their anxiety related to visiting the dentist as being either ( 1) very relaxed, (2) generally relaxed, (3) generally anxious, or (4) very anxious. No significant difference was established between the nitrous oxide-oxygen children and the nonnitrous oxide group in relation to their attitudes toward the dental experience. No significant relationship was noted between the child's attitude and the respective parent's attitude in relation to the dental visit. A significant relationship between the boys and the girls was noted in the "Happy" classification group when the sex of the child was compared to the child's point of reference as given in the hypothetical dental situation.

A vast majority of individuals involve themselves in an intimate relationship at one time or another. This studly looks at a new, but increasing, forum of relationship development, that of the Internet. More specifically, this study addresses various stages of Internet relationship development, and deception individual 's use during the process of forming and maintaining these relationships. This research gathered quantitative and qualitative information from 134 individuals involved in online relationships. The quantitative analyses provided only a few significant findings and it is suggested that the current methods of measuring deception are inadequate and do not appear to represent the types of deception that may be employed by those developing relationships on the Internet. The qualitative findings indicate that over half the people in this study report using deception in their Internet relationships and there appear to be different motivations for doing so.

Many children have insufficient early literacy experiences and fail to obtain proficient emergent literacy before they enter kindergarten. Reading to young children has been positively linked to improving their emergent literacy. Numerous factors influence how engaged children are while being read to including the adult’s prosody, receptive vocabulary, and the home literacy environment. Using a quantitative quasiexperimental design, this study sought to understand the association among prosody, child engagement (emotional, cognitive, behavioral-eye, and behavioral-body), receptive vocabulary, and the home literacy environment. The sample included 76 3-5 year-old children from local child care centers and their parents. To understand the relationship between prosody and engagement, children were randomly assigned to watch a story with typical or high prosody. Emotional, cognitive, behavioral-eye, and behavioral-body engagement measures were used to understand how engaged children were in the story. Children’s receptive vocabulary was assessed, and parents completed a home literacy survey. The moderating effects of receptive vocabulary and the home literacy environment (i.e., how much time parents spent reading to children and children’s TV time) between prosody and each type of engagement was examined. Children’s engagement did not differ between typical and high prosody stories. A statistically significant relationship was found between the cognitive and behavioral-eye r(74) = .44, p < .01, cognitive and behavioral-body r(74) = .30, p < .01, and behavioral-eye and behavioral-body engagement measures r(74) = .72, p < .01. Receptive vocabulary and the home literacy environment did not moderate the relationship between story prosody and any type of engagement.

The purpose of this study was to describe the incidence of repeat filers in Utah and estimate the extent that repeat filers may be abusing the bankruptcy system. This study sought to develop a profile of repeat filers . Demographic and financial variables were examined to detem1ine their association with abuser/nonabuser status. In this study, abuse of bankruptcy was characterized only by the timing and number of filings over 20 years. Debtors with three filings in a 2-year period or less and debtors with four or more total filings were classified as abusers. Nonabusers were defined as debtors who filed only once as well as debtors who had two or three scattered filings over the 20-year period. About I I% of the total sample appeared to be abusing the bankruptcy system by filing repeatedly. The majority (76.2%) of the I 997 cases filed by abusers were dismissed while only 23.8% received a discharge of their unsecured debts. Only five (2.9%) of the I 71 abusers who filed chapter I 3 in I 997 completed their payment plan and received a discharge of their debts. The logistic regression model found chapter (7 versus 13), filing status, unsecured debt, and monthly income to be the most significant variables in estimating abuse. Males and females filing alone were nearly 50% less likely than joint filers to be abusers. Chapter 13 debtors are nearly five times as likely to be abusers when compared to chapter 7 debtors. Filers who had unsecured debt levels above the median were less likely to be abusers, and filers who had incomes above the median were almost twice as likely to be abusers. Realistic repayment plans that pay careful attention to construction of budgets and a financial counselor to work with debtors who miss payments is one approach to combating abuse by repeat filing. Judges may need to discipline attorneys who file cases repeatedly. Perhaps a new Code is not what we need to combat abusers; instead, closer monitoring of cases by trustees, more responsible attorneys, and more responsible lending are needed.

The purpose was to determine how husbands and wives who had been separated because of the war in Vietnam perceived ea ch other during separation. Martial roles were used as the vehicle to convey perception. A random sample of Jl couples was selected from among the married officers and enlisted men of Marine All Weather Attack Squadron 225 which was based at DaNang, South Vietnam. A questionnaire des igned to determine perception of spouse was sent to men in Vietnam and to their wives who resided in various parts of the United States. The major findings are summarized as follows: l. Correlation of roles ranked in order of importance before and after separation by respondents was significant at or beyond the .05 level for all roles except that of mother. This indicates that there was really very little change in the importance of roles during separation. Tne mother role was most variable. 2. Husbands were significantly more accurate than wives in duplicating the ranking of roles by spouse. 3. Both husbands and wives were significantly more accurate predicting the role ranking of the other before separation than they were in predicting how the other would rank his roles after separation. 4. Wives were more congruent than husbands in perception of the spouse in roles they ranked as being highly important for the spouse. 5. Men who had children tended to be congruent between thought patterns about their wives and the roles they ranked as important for them. They usually ranked the roles of wife and mother high and often thought of their wives in these roles. This congruency did not exist with the men who had no children. 6 . There was significantly greater marital satisfaction before separation. 7. Perception of very high marital satisfaction after separation indicates that ideolization or glossing of the absent situation and absent person occurred.

The relational processes of sacrifice and self-care both influence every human relationship and as such, every human has to learn how to engage in them. Families are one of the many communities in which one must address sacrifice and self-care. This study provides a qualitative exploration of the relational processes of sacrifice and self-care among a sample of 198 highly religious (Abrahamic faiths) families. In-depth analyses explored motivations, types, and related family processes among family relationships. Five themes from the data about how families perceived and addressed the relational processes of sacrifice and self-care are discussed: (1) tensions between sacrifice and self-care, (2) motivations of sacrifice and/or self-care, (3) types of sacrifice, (4) types of self-care, and (5) processes in faith and family relationships. The ways that participants discussed struggling to address these processes are discussed along with why these ideas are important for marriages and families.

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