The current study examined the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness on differences by sex, race/ethnicity, and SES on BMI, depressive symptoms, and school absences among adolescents. a cross-sectional study was conducted in a north Texas school district, which included 609 Caucasian/Whites, 293 Hispanic/Latinos, and 113 African-American/Black adolescents (10-14 years). Main results of the study showed that that cardiorespiratory fitness was the largest predictor of BMI, followed by race/ethnicity, and then sex. Cardiorespiratory fitness among adolescents was inversely associated with BMI. the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness on BMI appeared to be more salient for non-Hispanic white females and non-Hispanic black females in that the former group had lower BMI scores than the latter group when cardiorespiratory fitness was taken into account; however, results showed that non-Hispanic white females and non-Hispanic black females had similar cardiorespiratory fitness level. Other results showed that SES and sex predicted depressive symptoms in that low SES females endorsed more depressive symptoms relative to high SES males; however, this relationship was non-existent when cardiorespiratory fitness was entered into the model. Additionally, findings indicated that BMI and depressive symptoms equally predicted school absences in that adolescents who had a higher BMI and endorsed more depressive symptoms had more school absences.

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Purpose. The purpose of this study was to identify the causes that result in Hispanic youth dropping out of high school prematurely. Procedures. A questionnaire was mailed to 150 California high school principals. In addition, 32 Hispanic students who dropped out during the 1984-85 school year were interviewed. Findings. High school principals identified low achievement, employment, lack of parental support and truancy as the major causes for Hispanic students dropping out of school. Students on the other hand, identified only truancy as the most influential cause for leaving high school during the 1984-85 school year. Significant differences among principals' perceptions of causes were noted by principals in an urban setting. They placed more importance on employment, peer pressure, poor reading skills, poor math skills and truancy than did principals in a suburban and rural setting. Additionally, principals with increasing Hispanic student enrollment differed from principals with declining Hispanic student enrollment by placing more importance on employment, low teacher expectation, poor reading skills and truancy. Identified causes relating to school completion or non-completion provide implications for programs which address the needs of potential dropouts. These programs should furnish intensive academic remediation, small class size with varied course offerings, and academic incentives. Additionally, flexible scheduled school-based programs which promote student ties to potential employers and provide Hispanic students equal opportunity are suggested. Finally, truancy should be addressed prior to students reaching high school. School districts concerned with the dropout problem should develop better methods in the identification of dropouts and study current employment programs and the extent to which they meet Hispanic student needs. Recommendations. (1) Replication of this study should be made to determine the differences between factors that cause male and female students to drop out of school. (2) A study focusing on specific truancy factors, including causes, local practices, and truancy intervention programs is highly recommended. (3) A study related to the effectiveness of utilizing truance coordinators is highly recommended. (4) A study focusing on the correlation between English proficiency and student dropout rates is highly recommended.

For the past 200 years, Latinos have comprised the largest, consistent category of immigrants in the United States. This influx has created a need for culturally competent psychological treatment of a population that suffers from acculturative stress, defined as the stress a minority member experiences while trying to adjust to the culture of the majority. Researchers have studied Latino immigrants' enduring trials as they adjust to life in the United States. Nevertheless, there is limited research on the quantification of factors contributing to acculturative stress. Based on the conceptual framework of bidimensional acculturation and Latina/o critical race theory, predictors of acculturative stress among Latino immigrants (N = 172) were examined in this quantitative cross-sectional study. Data were collected using a convenience sample from several public areas located in Miami, Florida. Forced entry regression analysis weighed factors such as: documentation status, experiencing prejudice, gender, income, the number of family members present, confidence in English, age, and number of years in the United States. The results demonstrated only experienced prejudice weighed significantly in the regression model (β = .43, p < .05), and was therefore correlated with acculturative stress scores. The results of this study may help to increase mental health professionals' awareness of how experiences of discrimination can impact the acculturative stress of their immigrant clients. To improve service to this community, mental health professionals and their institutions can take steps to counteract the biases associated with the acculturative stress of Latino immigrants, thereby establishing themselves as an ally to this population.

The purposes of this study are to examine migration disparities in primary, onward, and return migration by Hispanics, non-Hispanic black, and non-Hispanic white and to inspect the differences among the various types of migration. In addition, this study explores explanations of the migration disparities. These have been rarely studied because of a lack of proper migration data. This research employs the National Longitudinal Study of Youth (NLSY79) for a logistic regression of primary migration and for a hierarchical generalized linear model (HGLM) of the two types of repeat migration, namely onward and return. The results demonstrate that whites are more likely to make primary and onward migrations compared to blacks and Hispanics. But, with return migration, significant differences between whites and other minorities are not found. With respect to the contributors or explanations, this study indicates that the racial/ethnic migration disparities are not explained by socioeconomic status as opposed to explanations by human capital perspectives. The racial/ethnic disparities in migrations seem to be produced by discrimination and an unequal distribution of opportunities. Return migration presents several interesting different patterns compared with the other type migrations, including the effects of age and educational attainment. For return migration, old and less educated individuals have higher odds, showing reversed pattern of total, primary, and onward migration. The findings seem to indicate that different characteristics are involved in different types of migration.

On June 11, 2009 the World Health Organization announced that a novel strain of H1N1 influenza was being classified a Phase 6 pandemic, the highest level of alarm indicating that the disease was present worldwide and its spread was inevitable. While seasonal influenza epidemics occur annually, the 2009 H1N1 strain was the first novel pandemic influenza since the 1968 Hong Kong flu. The 2009 H1N1 pandemic provides a case study of how the U.S. population responded to an emergent and potentially lethal infectious disease. The richness and variety of public health data presents an opportunity to examine predictors of vaccination among men and women from different racial/ethnic groups. Because vaccination is often the most effective way to prevent influenza, it is important to understand the predictors of low vaccination uptake during the H1N1 pandemic to better prepare for future novel outbreaks of influenza. Through a series of three research papers, my dissertation provides a comprehensive examination of the ways that race, ethnicity and gender affected H1N1 vaccination behavior. Paper 1 explores the diversity of the U.S. Hispanic population by estimating H1N1 vaccination uptake among U.S-born and foreign-born Hispanics. In Paper 2, I shift my focus to H1N1 vaccination disparities between non-Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic blacks in the U.S. This paper further explores racial disparities in vaccination by examining intersections with gender and analyzing the influence of attitudes and beliefs about the H1N1 vaccine. In Paper 3, I provide a more detailed account of the socioeconomic and attitudinal mechanisms through which race, ethnicity and gender influence H1N1 vaccination. My research confirms large racial/ethnic disparities in H1N1 vaccination and identifies mechanisms amenable to policy change that could reduce the disease burden of a future influenza pandemic.

Kanakas, Owhyees, Blue Men, were all names given to laborers from Hawaii, or the Sandwich Islands, who contributed significantly to the economic, cultural, and political history of the United States territory west of the Mississippi River in the period 1750-1900. The Sandwich Islands first entered the international economic scene in the latter eighteenth century when its excellent ports and favorable climate made the Islands an ideal winter harbor and stopover for merchant ships, whalers, and explorers' vessels who needed to replenish food and water supplies, or make necessary repairs. Just as frequently the crews of these vessels needed to be supplemented, and the Kanakas were eager to travel and to receive wages paid to seamen. Kanaka seamen sailed with William Douglas, Robert Gray and George Vancouver; and as seamen and land based laborers for the North West Company, Astor's expedition, the Russian-American Company, Hudson's Bay Company, and Nathaniel Wyeth's Columbia River Fur and Trading Company. In 1834 the first American missionaries arrived in the Northwest, and they immediately made demands on the Islanders for labor supply. Both the Methodists and the ABCFM missionaries hired Kanakas for building, kitchen chores, farm labor, blacksmithing, and as herders. When the Oregon country began to attract annual emigrations from the East, the Kanakas found their skills also in demand by these new settlers. They were hired to work in the sawmills or as farm and house servants. Their seamanship opened doors all over the world for them, and involved the Islanders in various foreign intrigues. In Japan they were among deserters imprisoned and mistreated by the Oriental isolationists. During the American Civil War many were taken prisoner by Confederate ships. They also played a role in the movement to improve the lot of sailors by appearing before the British admiralty courts seeking redress for poor treatment aboard British ships. Those Kanakas who remained on the American mainland wanted to become citizens of the United States with their white neighbors. Their petition to the territorial government of Oregon, however, was refused. Restrictions were placed upon their continued immigration into the Northwest area, they were ignored by the 1849 Oregon census, the U.S. Consul in California received instructions from the Secretary of State barring the Kanakas from assistance or protection in California ports, and a long verbal battle ensued in the U.S. Congress over excluding them from the Donation Land Act. But the Kanakas were still recognized as excellent seamen and this occupation took them north to Kamchatka and south to California, Mexico, and around the tip of South America to ports of the eastern U.S. Those who left the sea worked in California gold fields, preached to Digger Indians, became part of the Mormon movement in Utah, or continued to serve the Hudson's Bay Company, Puget's Sound Agricultural Company, and the Russian-American Company. Throughout their historical journey in western America, they remained loyal, inconspicuous, and hardworking. But they also had dark skins and were foreign in origin. Once they threatened white superiority and white acquisition of land titles they became the targets of discrimination. They were not slaves so they could not be emancipated, but the white, Protestant ruling hierarchy could not allow them to become citizens and thereby free to settle land and demand the protection of American laws. They therefore found themselves classed with the Negro, Chinese, and Indians as undesirable elements in America's 'Manifest Destiny.' By 1900 most Kanakas had chosen to return to their homeland rather than recede into the shadows of American life, but their contributions to western American deserve recognition.

Levando em consideração um processo histórico (a colonização) e um sistema (o colonialismo), este trabalho explora a problemática da literatura colonial portuguesa em Angola na década de 1920. Quanto à estrutura, o estudo apresenta quatro capítulos: em primeiro lugar, tecemos um enquadramento teórico do colonialismo, da literatura colonial (em geral), da literatura colonial portuguesa (em particular) e da formação da literatura nacional angolana; essas considerações iniciais intentam sistematizar algumas formulações indispensáveis para se entender o fenômeno colonial, bem como apresentar um apanhado geral da história literária angolana, a fim de reconhecer a relevância das obras de autores portugueses para a construção desta outra literatura nacional. Em seguida, considerando que sem conhecer o contexto histórico é impossível compreender a literatura colonial da década de 1920 em sua plenitude, trazemos uma descrição da situação política entre Portugal e Angola e discutimos o surgimento da Agência Geral das Colónias, além de explorar a criação dos concursos de literatura colonial e introduzir as três obras selecionadas para a análise subsequente: África Portentosa, de Gastão Sousa Dias; África Misteriosa, de Julião Quintinha; e Em terra de pretos, de Henrique Galvão. Para os capítulos três e quatro, porém, foram escolhidos dois eixos temáticos mais específicos – a questão da representação do africano e a questão de gênero, respectivamente – que nos permitem verificar como as obras eleitas para pesquisa constituem um conjunto de referências que ajudam compreender algumas das singularidades do colonialismo português em Angola.

This paper focuses on how identity and racial ideology are factored into displays in the exhibit, Fossil Fragments: The Riddle of Human Origins, at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. I used visitor questionnaires, observations, exhibition construction and curatorial interviews to examine that the concept of race is so ingrained in our society racial ideology and identity is automatically embedded in exhibits about human evolution. How may the exhibition inform the visitors’ perception of race and human evolution? A key aspect investigated was if the curatorial staff was conscious or unconscious about the racial ideological information present in the exhibit. By examining the exhibition construction and visitor observations, I was able to see aspects of the exhibit reinforced visitor racial ideological beliefs. In seeing how exhibition construction coupled with the legitimacy and power of the museum effect people’s thoughts on human evolution, helped me understand that not only information in the museum but information left out can be as detrimental. All the information allowed me to form recommendations change the exhibit so that identity and racial ideological information would no longer be present.

No description available.