acase@tulane.edu

The persisting high level of adolescent pregnancy and childbearing in South Africa is a major concern for national public health and social policies. Accordingly, reducing the incidence of teen pregnancy and childbearing is one the priorities of the South African national adolescent reproductive health program. To inform teen pregnancy prevention program managers and policy makers about their needs, research on the risk and protective factors associated with teenage childbearing is necessary. Based on a framework that places adolescent childbearing under the influence of contextual factors (e.g., peers, sexual partners, family, and community), this study investigates the influence of individual-, family-, and community-level characteristics on teenage childbearing among adolescents in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Using a representative cross-sectional sample of African young women from the Transitions to Adulthood Study (2001), the study found that the individual-level factors associated with higher risk of childbirth among the sexually initiated respondents were comparatively earlier age at sexual debut, being single compared to being married or cohabiting with a boyfriend, comparatively low education, and not using contraceptives during first sex. Among the household-level factors, larger household size was associated with higher risk of childbirth. Among the community-level factors, comparatively socio-economically well-off neighbourhoods were associated with lower risk of childbirth among respondents from wealthier households. Additionally, higher level of participation by community members in local social activities, which indicates higher level of social capital, was associated with lower risk of childbirth; this effect is also limited to respondents from wealthier households. Contrary to expectations, however, comparatively high level of support and trustworthiness among adults in the community was associated with higher risk of childbirth. The individual-level factors explained the major portion of the explainable variances in reported childbearing among the study sample, while the rest of the variances were explained with equal contribution by the household- and community-level factors. No significant unobserved household- or community-level influence on adolescent childbearing was detected. The results of the study have implications for the teen pregnancy prevention program and social policy, as well as future research needs / acase@tulane.edu

Between the 1960s and early 1990s, unprecedented numbers of unwed teenage women gave birth and then used public assistance to support themselves and their children. To outraged conservatives, this trend proved that teenagers were abusing the welfare system by having children outside marriage and then using welfare money to support their indolent lifestyles. The liberals counter-argued that since an overwhelming majority of single teenage mothers were poor and socially disadvantaged, they would have received welfare irrespective of whether they had postponed childbirth. The liberals therefore believed that poverty and lack of opportunity for upward social and economic mobility were the underlying causes of single teenage births and welfare use. Set against the backdrop of this debate and using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youths data, in this study I follow the life experiences of 225 single teenage parents between 1979 and 1993 in order to examine how parenthood affected their educational or welfare status. I also examine how their experiences differed from their peers, who were of the same age but had children either after they were married or after they were relatively older. Furthermore. I study the influence of childhood socio-economic status on men and women's later life chances, regardless of their marital and fertility status. Lastly, I compare the educational attainment of single teenage mothers with that of single teenage fathers. My findings show that irrespective of their socio-economic backgrounds, having children as teenagers increased single women's chances of receiving welfare for longer periods. However, their childhood socio-economic status had a much larger impact on men and women's later educational status than their age and marital status at childbirth. Finally, even though single teenage mothers experienced greater day to day child-care responsibilities, their educational attainment was at par with that of single teenage fathers / acase@tulane.edu

Guatemala's record on implementation of education reforms does not encourage optimism. After more than a century of being proclaimed an urgent priority, something approaching universal access to primary school has only been achieved within the past decade. Universal access to secondary school remains a distant goal, while reforms mandated by the 1985 Constitution and 1996 Peace Accords have not resulted in necessary increases in budget allocations, decentralization, or implementation of linguistically and culturally appropriate pedagogical materials and methods This study explores barriers to implementation of education reforms in Guatemala. Following presentation of secondary data to describe the gravity of Guatemala's 'education problem,' legal underpinnings of important reform initiatives of recent decades are analyzed. Qualitative primary data explores barriers to effective administration and reform implementation in the large rural municipality of Chichicastenango. The intent of this case study is to reveal how participants in municipal-level school administration -- parents, teachers, and district supervisory staff -- collectively perceive each other, and how their perceptions affect education delivery. The study notes several ways that underfunding limits effective administration and reform A central conclusion is that all parties involved in local level school administration are most favorably inclined to aspects of the educational system over which they exercise the most control. For parents who prioritize education, this usually includes passive support and acceptance of educators, curricula, and pedagogical methods used at the school their children attend, but a negative view of teachers in general; for teachers, it means reluctance to change civil service rules that protect employment security but impede effective education, and may also include a desire not to subject themselves to greater supervisory control by local communities; frustrated district supervisors take a rather fatalistic and nonchalant attitude toward reform policies, while routinely cutting administrative corners to avoid conflicts with teachers and directors over whom they have only weak protocols for control. In general, the three sectors have diverse agendas that are sometimes incompatible, and provide little or no incentive to collectively embrace the most recent underfunded education policies, few of which have much chance of surviving beyond each new presidential administration / acase@tulane.edu

acase@tulane.edu

This study is intended to ascertain the potential impact of a market-driven mechanism on changing MBL participants' social behavior. A qualitative case study investigation of whether values sought by participants and organizers are derived and the affect on social behavior after receiving these values. The methodology is to observe MBL participants' behaviors and activities during and when the MBL mechanism is available. Multiple in-depth, semi-structured long interviews are conducted with participants and organizers to understand the value demands they seek. Pertinent documentation is reviewed about the previous and current behaviors and activities of this cohort. Finally, I will participate in the MBL to understand their behaviors and their relationship to the value demands sought. This is a study deemed successful if the research technique allows me to identify participant and organizer value demands, whether they realized these demands in the MBL, whether participants' behaviors were modified to socially desired ones as a result of their involvement in the mechanism and whether participants' realized value demands from alternative and competing mechanisms during the intervention. I expect to find that participants and organizers become involved with the MBL to derive values that are different from those actually derived. Participants seek to improve their community position by enhancing their feelings of self-worth. They will realize this goal in a basketball environment with friends and an arena to compete for community social-esteem (social network circle). Organizers seek to improve participants' community by in increasing the proximity between participants and their potential involvement in illicit activities / acase@tulane.edu

'Ordem e Civilizacao: The Modernization of Brazilian Naval Yards in the Nineteenth Century,' is a socio-economic history of modernization. The revolution in the art of naval warfare changed centuries-old, construction techniques forever as modern warships utilized iron-siding and steam engines after mid-century. This dissertation analyzes the consequences associated with the adaptation of new technologies to nineteenth-century shipbuilding in the state-run naval yards Constructing modern warships forced the state to educate lower-class youths who subsequently built and maintained them. Established throughout the empire, various schools taught sailors, gunners, artisans, and mechanics their trade. Naval yard workers and sailors who obtained a vocational education eventually forced the imperial government to improve their social status in the navy or lose them to private industry. After mid-century, the state reformed the naval penal code, lessening the number of offenses that received corporal punishment. By 1857, mechanics received direct commissions after ten years of service, and by 1872, the imperial government set up a retirement and disability pension for most of its 4,000 naval yard workers In Brazil's slave-based society, the 'place' for a working class, apart from slave labor, always had been ill-defined. Prior to improving the lot of the working class, the imperial government attempted to define their separate status by differentiating slave labor from free labor and unskilled from skilled labor. After this attempt failed, the imperial government initially relied upon foreign workers, but soon realized that it could not afford their high salary demands. Consequently, the imperial government sought to educate underprivileged youths, turning them into a more productive working class that benefitted the state as well as themselves. The naval yards offer the best example of the Brazilian Empire's concept of 'order and civilization' as education brought discipline, respectability, and limited social mobility to the Brazilian lower classes / acase@tulane.edu

This paper uses quantitative methods to measure the impacts from selected shocks and evaluates the sensitivity of different welfare indicators to those shocks. The data sets from 2004--05 household and community surveys in the Central Highland of Angola are used for this study. Oaxaca decomposition analysis is conducted to examine how much of the differential in the values of welfare indicators can be explained by group differences in characteristics, and how much may be due to shock impacts. This study then examines the sensitivity of each welfare indicator to different shocks and illustrates the distribution of shock impacts on indicators using the nonparametric density estimation method. The inferences from the above study are later verified with the help of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) analysis. Suitable welfare indicators for the vulnerability assessment under each selected shock are identified. The study results suggest that there is no all-purpose welfare indicator in existence for vulnerability analysis. The groups of population at risk of falling below the poverty line or having their poverty status deteriorated with shock impacts are identified using the welfare indicators with ex ante data. The methods used in this paper are experimental yet innovative in vulnerability study. They are expected to improve the efficiency and accuracy of vulnerability assessment, and to facilitate aid/after-shock relief distribution and policy making / acase@tulane.edu

This study examines the system of family care for orphaned children in sub-Saharan Africa with the example of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Applying a retrospective research design - the case-control design - to the study of orphaned children, the research attempts to explain why some orphans leave their relatives and enter orphanages while the other larger group is taken in by members of the extended family Two groups of children are compared: orphans staying at the sites of orphanages and orphans from a similar background that continue to live with family members. All children in the sample have lost one or both of their parents and are between 8 and 20 years old. A total of 880 children have been interviewed. Children in orphanages and children in family care are compared with respect to three sets of risk factors: (a) demographic risk factors, (b) social risk factors, and (c) experiences of violence and discrimination in the family The data analysis suggests that among the indicators that were examined, experiences of violence and discrimination are most important in predicting the outcome variable. Some of the demographic characteristics also figured prominently as predictors. Surprisingly, the social characteristics appear to be less relevant in differentiating between cases and controls. Orphans at high risk to leave the family include (a) maternal orphans, (b) children that lost their parent(s) at a young age, (c) orphans from families with few adult relatives, (d) orphans without sibling support, (e) orphans without access to essential social services, in particular schooling, and (f) children that suffer violence, discrimination or other forms of abuse by a family adult. The cultural phenomenon of children accused of sorcery ('enfants dits sorciers') is especially disturbing. With more than 50% of the children in orphanages and 20% of the children in family care accused of sorcery by family members, the research confirms earlier impressions that the belief in sorcery is becoming a most significant factor in child abandonment in the Democratic Republic of Congo / acase@tulane.edu

Contemporary welfare research recognizes the increasing importance of norms and values in shaping popular assessment of social policy and the need to more fully incorporate cultural beliefs into the empirical study of public opinion. This research is a comparative study of factors influencing public attitudes towards government policies in fourteen countries: Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, former Czechoslovakia, former East Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, the United States, and former West Germany. I use data from the 1992 International Social Survey Program (ISSP): Social Inequality (International Social Survey Program, 1992) to examine the effect of individual-level characteristics and beliefs about stratification on public attitudes toward welfare policies in each country. I test a model specifying that support for government policies is a product of the interplay between objective and subjective status and beliefs about economic justice. I compare how the proposed relationships vary across national context. I find that the effect of both socioeconomic and demographic characteristics and stratification beliefs varies across Western nations in accordance with national differences in the institutional organization of their welfare programs and the predominance of individualistic versus collectivist values in national cultures. I examine also how the model developed for the case of stable industrialized Western democracies applies in the post-communist societies of Eastern Europe. In these countries I do not find more pronounced socioeconomic and demographic cleavages in attitudes yet the effects of stratification beliefs in shaping public support for government policies are notably weaker than in the West. The empirical results confirm the need for an embedded approach in comparative welfare research / acase@tulane.edu