It has been argued, albeit with some degree of success, that the challenges facing the 21st century Canadian classroom are highly complex. A troubled economy riddled with cutbacks to the education system, ongoing enrolment decline and challenges in embracing a growth in the diversity of students are among the changes that have made classrooms increasingly difficult to navigate. Though the last assertion may be true, disciplinary policies and the tools used to address unwanted student behaviour have remained relatively unchanged within the education system. Using Critical Race Theory, the author examines the implications of school suspension and expulsion programs on students and provides an analysis of current literature on alternative disciplinary methods in public schools. Findings suggest that a mixture of strategies within various disciplinary programs can benefit some students, but more work must be done to address socioeconomic disparities plaguing the majority of students found in these programs.

This study analyses warehoused data collected by Georgia State University and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (GSU/CDC) researchers after developing an HIV testing message for urban adults with low functional health literacy. It expands previous work by examining data collected when 202 primarily African-American homeless clients of an urban community based organization (CBO) reviewed both the low literacy brochure (Wallace et. al., 2006) and a standard HIV brochure (Georgia Department of Human Resources, 1997). Participants’ health literacy was assessed using 2 measures; the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine or REALM (Davis, Crouch, Long & Green) and the Test of Functional Health Literacy Assessment or TOFHLA (Nurss, Parker & Baker, 2001). HIV risk was determined using an interview questionnaire developed by the research group (Belcher, Deming, Hunter & Wallace, 2005) which allowed participants to self-report recent alcohol and drug use, sexual behavior, sexually transmitted disease (STD) history and exposure to abuse and sexual coercion. Open-ended response questions regarding readability, understanding, main message, and importance for each brochure provided the qualitative data.This analysis confirms previous work showing accessibility, readability, cultural sensitivity and user-friendly formatting are important when attempting to engage at-risk adults with varying levels of functional health literacy in an HIV testing message. The visual aspects of the brochure can be essential in capturing the reader’s attention and should be relevant to the target audience (Wallace, Deming, Hunter, Belcher & Choi, 2006). Mono-colored graphics may be perceived as dated and irrelevant or worse yet, threatening to some readers. Whenever possible culturally appropriate color photos of people depicting relevant content should replace excess text and difficult medical terms should be eliminated. Wording on the cover and within the brochure should be used to focus the reader on a single main message.This data also shows that many participants considered the quantity of information just as important. For reasons not elucidated here, many respondents equated quantity of information with message quality. Based on these results it is important to further clarify how much information is enough to maintain legitimacy and the reader’s attention while simultaneously avoiding confusing mixed messages.

LaRossa, Jaret, Gadgil, and Wynn (2000, 2001) conducted a content analysis of 495 comic strips published on Father’s Day and Mother’s Day in the United States from 1945 to 1999 in order to determine whether the culture of fatherhood and gender disparities in the media had changed over the past half-century. Drawing on their research, I conducted a similar kind of analysis of 246 comic strips published on Father’s Day and Mother’s Day in Japan from 1950 to 2004. By comparing and contrasting the results in the two studies, I show how comic portrayals of families have changed in Japan and in the United States, and demonstrate the value of analyzing comic strips in cross-national research.

This study evaluated the associations of individual and neighborhood level risk factors with physical health, mental health, and stress in a diverse urban county. Relatively little research has attempted to disentangle the interactive individual characteristics and neighborhood conditions underlying health outcomes and disparities. To address this, survey data were collected and analyzed from 1,107 residents living in one of the 114 census tracts in DeKalb County, GA. Using multilevel structural equation modeling techniques, this study found that neighborhood level measures of the social and built environment were not associated with the health outcomes under study after controlling for neighborhood level income and education. Alternatively, individual level perceptions of the social and built environment and measures of access to health care were significantly associated with physical health, mental health, and perceived stress. This study also found that the association between low individual income and poor physical health was more pronounced for participants who lived in low-income neighborhoods than participants who lived in high-income neighborhoods. Additionally, this study found that Black residents reported significantly better mental health compared to White residents when they lived in high-income neighborhoods, and Black participants reported significantly more stress compared to White participants when they lived in low-income neighborhoods. Results of this study further scientific understanding of the role of neighborhood processes in health disparities and potentially help inform the development of programs and policies related to neighborhood conditions and health disparities.

Help-seeking has been studied for over 20 years, but much is yet to be known about what variables influence parental help-seeking. In the present studies, participants were recruited from Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Study 1, included 260 caregivers recruited from local school districts and a church. Using confirmatory factor analysis, results supported the hypothesized 3-factor structure of the Parental Attitudes Toward Psychological Services Inventory (PATPSI) and internal consistency ranged from moderate to high. Study 2 conducted subsequent analyses on the data from Study 1. Correlation analyses supported the relationships among parental attitudes, stigma, and help-seeking. Secondly, parents with previous use of child mental health services reported more positive attitudes and less stigma than parents with no previous use. Thirdly, no significant gender differences were found, but there was a trend toward parents reporting higher intentions for boys than girls. Additionally, African Americans reported less positive attitudes and more stigma than the other ethnic groups. Finally, moderation analyses suggested that attitudes are more likely to influence help-seeking for European Americans but not for African Americans, and stigma appeared to influence helpseeking for Hispanic Americans but not for European Americans; no moderation effects were found for child gender. Finally, analyses indicated that only stigma and attitudes were significant independent predictors of help-seeking. Study 3 was a sub-sample from Study 1 (N = 118) who completed additional measures. The purpose was to replicate findings from Study 2 and examine test-retest reliability of the PATPSI. Test-retest reliability for the PATPSI was low in this sample. Overall, results were consistent with Study 2. Results indicated that parents with previous service use reported higher externalizing symptoms (not internalizing) than those with no previous use. Inconsistent with Study 2, Asian Americans reported less positive attitudes, and African Americans reported less stigma than European Americans and Asian Americans. Additionally, stigma tolerance was found to have a stronger influence on European Americans likelihood of future service use than for African Americans. Furthermore, the interaction between problem type and gender was not a significant predictor of likelihood of future use. Finally, only previous service use and attitudes (not stigma) were independent predictors of likelihood of future use. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

This study investigates the underlying factors influencing the large variances in innovation performance among the Chinese regions. What is specified in the study is the issue of the knowledge divide in China as existing regional inequalities have appeared in conjunction with the production of knowledge and innovation in its transformation into an innovation-driven economy. While the Chinese innovation system has achieved some promising developments at the aggregate level over the past few years, the inequality between the coastal and inland regions are widening with substantial disparities in the level of innovation capacity. In order to understand the major reasons for this new trend in regional divergence, the study explores the different levels of innovation activities among the provincial-level regions of China and analyzes the determinants of regional innovation capacity, employing a comprehensive and unified framework of a regional innovation system. The overall results suggest that while the Chinese regional innovation systems have evolved over time, increasing human and capital resources in innovation and accumulated knowledge stock/the level of economic development, together with the development of innovation-enhancing policies, industrial cluster environment, and linkages between innovation actors, are all crucial determinants of regional innovation capacity, leading to significant disparities in the level of innovation capacity among Chinese regions.

Texte en partie remanié de : Thesis (doctoral) : ? : University of Liverpool : 2003. / Bibliogr. p. [206]-227. Index.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2009. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Existing literature provides support for a possible syndemic among adult film actresses. Multiple studies emphasize that a combination of economic, social, and cultural issues work together in tandem to synergistically amplify HIV/STI risk in this vulnerable population. It is critical to acknowledge how the detrimental effects of the high prevalence of substance abuse, psychological distress, intimate partner violence, and childhood sexual abuse work together in a system to heighten HIV/STI risk among adult-film actresses. Additionally, issues including the retrogressive dynamic and unequal power and hegemony in the industry function as facilitators which lower the overall health profile of adult-film actresses. It is therefore important to explore the additive relationship between multiple psychosocial health problems of HIV/STI risk among adult-film actresses. The goals of this study are to explore the tenets of the adult-film actress syndemic and use the ecosocial model to organize the associations between psychosocial health problems and HIV/STI risk. This thesis utilizes a two-phase, transformative explanatory sequential mixed methods design which combines multivariable logistic regression and ethnography to understand HIV/STI risk and how depression, childhood sexual abuse, intimate partner violence, and substance use are embodied in the daily lives of adult-film actresses. The quantitative component of this study utilized data collected from a survey of 134 adult- film actresses from the United States. Statistically significant relationships were seen between the independent variables (psychosocial problems) and the dependent variables (i.e., number of personal sex partners, perception of HIV risk, and participation in other sex work). Other relevant quantitative findings included the statistically significant relationships between the syndemic variable and multiple dependent variables. The second component of this study consisted of an ethnography that addressed the theoretical deficiencies in the quantitative phase. Eight adult-film actresses living in the United States were recruited through a testing agency located in Florida, a non-profit located in California, and social networking sites (You tube, Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace) and were then interviewed by phone. The ethnography provided substantive information on the processes which potentially undergird and fuel the syndemic among adult-film actresses including the link between traumatic childhood experiences, substance use and depression. Additional qualitative findings also included elucidating how components of occupational culture increase HIV/STI risk among adult-film actresses. Prominent qualitative themes included traumatic childhood experiences, tenuous romantic relationships and multiple rapes. The integration of both phases of this study provide information on how the interplay between micro, meso and macro level factors work together in a system to additively augment HIV/STI risk among adult-film actresses. Findings from this study have the potential to influence risk reduction policies that could improve the lives of adult-film actresses.

This study's purpose is to investigate the expansion of social control efforts in American elementary and secondary school settings, particularly the use of zero-tolerance policies. These policies entail automatic punishments, such as suspensions, expulsions, and referrals to the juvenile and criminal justice systems for a host of school-based infractions. The widespread implementation of zero-tolerance policies and the application of harsh, exclusionary sanctions have intensified over the past decade. Numerous studies have documented this rise; however, there has been little effort to explore the explanation of the expansion of school-based social controls. A potential explanation is found in the application of political economic theories in relation to the increased use and evolving nature of social control in the neoliberal era of capitalism. As such, the current study employs a new theoretical approach, which utilizes neoliberal theory combined with theoretical components from existing metanarratives in the literature. By using this new approach in regard to school-based social control, the connection between the expansion of social control of the working class and marginal populations in the criminal justice process, and the retraction of the social safety nets that characterized neoliberal capitalism is extended to the explanation of trends in the social control of school-based infractions. This investigation incorporates a qualitative, empirical exploration of how these school criminalization efforts have been implemented and legitimized by the state, specifically through the authority of the courts. By engaging in textual analysis, the jurisprudential intent that informs both the relevant state appellate and Supreme Court decisions was subjected to legal exegeses to determine how and if the judicial system legitimizes the practice of zero tolerance in schools, which are consistent with neoliberal ideals. In addition, a quantitative component, to this overall study, examined nationally representative School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS) data across three academic years to determine if school security measures and disciplinary actions were increasingly applied to marginal populations in elementary and secondary schools over time. Results from the qualitative inquiry revealed that in the overwhelming majority of court cases evaluated, the courts decided in a fashion that reinforces zero-tolerance policies as legitimate neoliberal social controls in schools. Several theoretically relevant themes emerged from the jurisprudential intent, which are transferable for further theory development and future research. Quantitative findings reveal that, over time, the total disciplinary actions and removals from school without continued educational services are disproportionately applied to schools with the highest percentages of minority students and students who reside in high-crime areas compared to schools with the lowest percentages of minority students and students who reside in high-crime areas. Conversely, the results also reveal that the average use of school security measures (e.g., metal detectors, access controls, security guards, etc.) are more likely to be used in schools with the lowest percentages of minority students than schools with the highest percentages of minorities over time. These results are discussed in detail, and recommendations for changes in school policies and practices are offered, while being mindful of evidence-based best practices that may serve as viable alternatives to the zero-tolerance policies currently being used. Avenues for future research and theory development are also outlined.