Those working in Engineering for Global Development seek to improve the conditions in developing countries. A common metric for understanding the development state of a given country is the Human Development Index (HDI), which focuses on three dimensions: health, education, and income. An engineer’s expertise does not always align with any of those dimensions directly, while they still hope to perform impactful work for human development. To discover other areas of expertise that are highly associated with the HDI, correlations and variable selection were performed between all World Development Indicators and the HDI. The resultant associations are presented according to industry sector for a straightforward connection to engineering expertise. The associated areas of expertise can be used during opportunity development as surrogates for focusing on the HDI dimensions themselves. The data analysis shows that work related to "Trade, Transportation, and Utilities", such as electricity distribution, and exports or imports, "Natural Resources and Mining", such as energy resources, agriculture or access to clean water, and "Manufacturing", in general, are most commonly associated with improvements in the HDI in developing countries. Also, because the associations were discovered at country-level, they direct where geographically particular areas of expertise have been historically associated with improving HDI.

The importance of social competence in children's development has been recognized, and evidence has been found that children who are socially incompetent are at risk for academic problems. Yet the influences that may be involved from infancy, such as temperament and attachment, have not been explored longitudinally. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of infant temperament characteristics on later social development and to explore the idea that this influence may be affected by the infant's attachment security mediated by parenting stress. Eighteen-month-old infants, from a previous study, were studied as second graders to examine whether their development was influenced by early attachment and temperament . This study examined the involvement of infant temperament and attachment in relation to maternal goodness-of-fit and parenting stress to predict social problems in the school years to gain valuable insight into the potential of the infant to influence his/her own development. Results indicate that characteristics of the infant and the mother-infant relationship have only indirect relations with how children function later in childhood. However, the child's temperament as a second grader, although not stable from infancy, is related to how well a child adapts in a school environment

This study explored the links between maternal beliefs about the importance of children's social skills, modes of obtaining social skills, management strategies, and children's social competence. Subjects were 67 mothers whose 3- and 4-year-old children attended one of five preschools in Cache Valley, Utah. Mothers completed questionnaires assessing their beliefs about the importance of social skills, their beliefs about how children acquire social skills, and the ways they are involved in their children 's peer relationships. Demographic measures were also completed by the mothers. Classroom teachers completed the Child Behavior Scale on every child in their class, regardless of maternal participation, in order to measure the child's social skills with peers. The results showed that mothers who returned the questionnaires were significantly more likely to have children with lower social competence. Mothers believed that social skills were important for preschool children and rated resolving conflicts, making friends, and sharing as more important than sticking-up for oneself or being a leader. Mothers were slightly more likely to believe that social skills were acquired as a result of innate characteristics. However, they were also more likely to choose an experience explanation for not being considerate of others ' feelings and choose an innate explanation for children who were considerate of other children's feelings. When ranking modes of acquisition, mothers who chose an experience or teaching explanation were less likely to believe that social skills were influenced by innate characteristics of the child. Mothers who believed that children gain social skills through experience were also more likely to have children with lower social competence. When testing the hypotheses, links between maternal beliefs about the importance of social skills, maternal management strategies, and children 's social competence were not found. No differences were found between maternal beliefs or management strategies of mothers of 3-year-olds and mothers of 4-year-olds. There were also no statistically significant differences in mothers' beliefs or management strategies based upon children's gender. Children's age and gender were not found to be related to children's social competence.

A descriptive -exploratory study on the influences of age and sex on the food preferences of preschool children was undertaken to add to the knowledge of the effects of self-selection on the foods chosen and the order in which they were eaten. Twenty-eight preschool children (fourteen two-year-olds and fourteen four and one-half-year-olds) were given two trials in which they named, selected, and ate foods from a predetermined array of seven food items. The results indicate that there is a difference in the order in which the children of this study ate the food items. Both age groups selected candy first, however, the older children revealed the more middle-class value of deferred gratification by saving the candy to eat until last, while the younger children revealed the more immature tendency toward immediate gratification by eating the candy first. Another finding was that sex appeared to be a factor in the order in which foods were selected and eaten. Boys ate candy first twice as many times as girls ate candy first. While the older boys saved candy until last significantly more than the younger boys, the older girls saved candy until last significantly more than the older boys. The girls showed more maturity than the boys in this study. The other finding was that for naming the food items, the girls were able to name more items correctly than were the boys, suggesting faster language development among girls. Also age was a factor in naming the food items. The older children named more of the foods and answered rapidly, while the younger children were slower in giving names to the foods and seemed to depend frequently on touch to help confirm their identification.

The goal of this study was to examine parenting styles and family communication as correlates of juvenile delinquency. A review of the literature was completed in the areas of parenting styles, family communication, and juvenile delinquency. The literature that was reviewed for this study was examined mainly from juvenile perceptions. This study was approached from a general systems theory perspective. A sample of juveniles (N = 78) from Weber County, Utah, involved in the juvenile justice system completed a survey assessing their perception of parenting styles and family communication. The survey was a 25-item questionnaire measuring kindness, unkindness, communication, authoritarian parenting, authoritative parenting, and permissive parenting. A correlation was computed to show the relationship between the variables . It showed that there were moderate positive correlations between kindness, communication, and authoritative parenting styles. Also there was a moderate negative correlation between unkindness, communication, and authoritative parenting styles. While the sample limits generalizations of results, these preliminary findings provide interesting results for professionals who work with juveniles involved in the juvenile justice system.

The high incidence of adolescent problem behaviors in the United States raises major concerns. These problem behaviors include: sexually transmitted diseases, unintended pregnancies, suicide, depression, substance abuse, crime against persons and property, and delinquency. Consequently, there continues to be a high level of concern and interest in different ethnic populations of adolescents and their level of risk. This study evaluated the following problem behaviors: substance abuse, suicide, delinquency, and sexual intercourse; and the risk factors that increase the probability of these problem behaviors occurring. Specifically, the study identified the profiles of the population in relationship to the problem behaviors comparing Native and nonnative American adolescents. This study also described how both samples of high school students reported the connectedness of school, home, and community with their perceived feelings of belongingness and safety, in addition to their reports of problem behavior. The prevalences of problem behaviors in Native and nonnative American adolescents were compared, the differences in the importance of risk factors related to problem behaviors in the two groups were examined, and the extent to which the risks and protective factors predict problem behaviors in Native and nonnative American adolescents also was assessed. In comparing problem behaviors between Native and nonnative American adolescents, there were significantly higher incidences of problem behaviors in the Native American sample. Statistical analyses demonstrated that problem behaviors were not consistently predicted by the risk and protective factors for the Native American females, but they were predictable for the nonnative American female sample. The risk factors explained less of the variation in problem behavior for the males than for the females from both samples. The risk factors explained less variation in problem behaviors for Native American males than their nonnative American counterparts. This research demonstrates the need to develop models to better understand cultural influences on adolescents in order to improve the intervention and prevention techniques necessary to reduce the number of youth at risk. There is a particular need to better identify the risk factors of importance to Native Americans.

The effects of birth order on achievement have been under investigation continually resulting in reported prominence of first born children in various areas of achievement. The purpose of this study was to provide further investigation into the effects of birth order on the achievement hypothesis using the attainment of the Eagle Scout Award as the dependent variable. Five hypotheses were formulated from a review of literature which included: (1) boys in the first born position are more likely to attain the Eagle Scout Award than boys in later born positions, (2) family income is associated with attaining the Eagle Scout Award, (3) high scores on the Ignoring scale by the mothers are associated with attaining the Eagle Scout Award, (4) high scores on the Dominance scale by the mothers are associated with attaining the Eagle Scout Award, (5) low scores on the Possessive scale by the fathers are associated with attaining the Eagle Scout Award. One hundred ten families with at least one son who had attained the Eagle Scout Award were included in the study. Each parent was asked to complete a questionnaire which provided information concerning family demographics such as parents' birth order, birth order and sex of children, highest scouting award of male children and the father, religious attendance of parents and scouts, education level of parents, occupations of parents, and family income. Parents were asked to report the supportive actions they provided for their sons in scouting activities and their perceived strength of the troops' programs, and importance of selected individuals to their sons attaining the Eagle Award. Chi-square tests calculated for the formulated hypotheses gave the following results: (1) boys from later born positions were just as likely to attain the Eagle Scout Award as boys in the first born position, (2) families of lower income levels were just as likely to have multiple Eagles within their families as families of higher income levels, (3) mothers who scored low on the Ignoring scale were just as likely to have multiple Eagles in their families as mothers who scored high on the Ignoring scale, (4) mothers who scored low on the Dominance scale were just as likely to have multiple Eagles in their families as mothers who scored high on the Dominance scale, (5) fathers who scored high on the Possessive scale were just as likely to have multiple Eagles in their families as fathers who scored low on the Possessive scale.

The purpose of this study was to explore and better understand termination in the field of marriage and family therapy, as well as to generate a working model of termination. Data were obtained from a total of 40 marriage and family therapists (MFTs) licensed in the state of Utah. Two research questions were posed about termination and how client type and treatment progress may influence the termination process: (1) Given that MFTs see individuals, couples, and families, are there differences and similarities across client types in regard to how therapy is terminated?; and (2) Does termination differ in regard to treatment progress (i.e., clients have been completely or partially successful in meeting the specified treatment objectives)? Data examined from these therapists suggested that marriage and family therapists terminate individuals, couples, and families in a similar, but not sequential, manner using six main steps: (1) plan for future problems, (2) review goals, (3) summarize treatment, (4) orientation to termination, (5) review skills and resources, and (6) empower clients. This model was compared to and analyzed against a four-step model conceptualized by Epstein and Bishop. The results not only produced a similar termination model to that of Epstein and Bishop, but added greater depth and clarification to the steps outlined in the model. The data also supported the idea that treatment progress may influence termination for couples and families, but did not support it for termination with individuals.

In order to dissect social behaviors into their smallest components, five interactions, each involving one neonate and one adult, were video taped and kinescoped into 16mm black and white film exposed at 24 frames per second. The film was analyzed frame by frame and all starts, stops, and changes in direction of movements were scored. Adult movement durations were significantly shorter during vocalization and longer during nonvocalization. Each infant and adult body part had its own characteristic movement rate. Almost two-thirds of the dyadic movements were interactionally synchronous and most of the synchronization occurred during vocalization. It is suggested that this behavior comprises an interactional code, innately biased to encourage mutual attachment between parents and infants. Further, it is suggested that the neonate is continually decoding incoming family socialization messages and encoding and relaying her/his own temperament messages which may or may not be harmonious with the overall family temperament.

The purpose of this study was to investigate actual decision making in two types of families in which both spouses worked and their perceptions of decision making responsibility in the ideal family. The two family types were composed of (I) Professional wives with professional husbands; and (2) nonprofessional wives with nonprofessional husbands. Questionnaires were completed by 34 professional couples and 63 nonprofessional couples who resided in Flint, Michigan during the fall of 1976. Factor analyses were completed on the husbands' and wives' self reported responses to questions concerning who should make decisions in the ideal family and who actually mode the decisions in their own family. Professional couples reported that in their own families the majority of the decisions were the major responsibility of the wife and they expected the ideal family's decisions to also be the major responsibility of the wife. Nonprofessional couples reported a more egaIitarian sharing of decision making in their own families and also expected an equal sharing of decision making their concept of the ideal family.