The fact that social problems cluster in space is not new. Spatial clustering of social problems has been described for several issues such as low educational achievement, crime and drug use, among others. One key factor that has been linked to those problems is the geographical concentration of contextual disadvantage. It has been argued that this observed correlation is only to be attributed to the fact that housing and labour markets create incentives for vulnerable people to cluster in space. Some believe that this clustering generates additional effects leading to poorer outcomes that would not have been observed in the absence of spatial clustering. The literature is unclear on the question of whether there is a "neighbourhood effect" of contextual disadvantage on problems like antisocial behaviour, and how this effect might be transmitted. Neighbourhood studies have been subject to persistent methodological and conceptual shortcomings. These may be partly related to the high costs involved in producing new datasets with adequate spatial measures. The availability of datasets with contextual data is scarce, thus many of the published papers on the subject have drawn on a low number of different studies (usually from the US and Europe). Consequently, the possibility to generalize their findings seems to be limited. In addition, the availability of high quality data (e.g. longitudinal datasets) that can help to rule out known methodological problems is even more restricted. In order to contribute to improving the understanding of how contextual characteristics might influence adolescent antisocial behaviour, firstly, a systematic review of longitudinal neighbourhood effects studies was conducted. In the first part of the thesis, results from the review suggest that the evidence supporting the existence of a direct neighbourhood effect of poverty and concentrated disadvantage on antisocial behaviour is mixed. Contextual effects of concentrated disadvantage also seemed to be highly dependent on model specification, whereby most studies finding significant main effects usually failed to include potentially relevant confounders in regression models. Commonly omitted confounders were related to baseline antisocial behaviour, parenting and peer differential association. Furthermore, evidence was generally unsupportive of the idea that neighbourhood level residential instability, neighbourhood disorder and incivility, social capital and collective efficacy or exposure to violence may have a direct effect on antisocial behaviour. Regarding institutional resources, mixed results were found. Some evidence pointed to the idea that "subcultural" variables (e.g. community level tolerance to deviance) may have an effect on reduced individual level violence. At times, it seemed that more complex models regarding how neighbourhood influences may influence behavioural outcomes might be needed. In the second part of the thesis, data from a longitudinal study, representative of the school population of Santiago de Chile, was merged with independent contextual level information (Census tract, schools and police records) and analysed. By examining the case of Santiago de Chile, a series of ideas regarding how contextual characteristics of activity spaces might relate to the growth of antisocial behaviour diversity over time were explored and tested. Specific attention was paid to examine and discuss how contextual effects might operate, in particular, how contextual disadvantage may influence criminogenic processes of strain, social control and contagion (peer effects). In order to test the proposed hypotheses, a series of hierarchical linear growth models were estimated. No evidence supporting the idea that different types of activity spaces (home based or school based activity spaces) may have differential effects on antisocial behaviour was found. However, results suggest that higher levels of contextual concentrated disadvantage across activity spaces significantly predicted a steeper growth of antisocial behaviour diversity over time. In spite of this, no support was found for the existence of a direct contextual effect once other covariates (i.e. baseline antisocial behaviour, strain, family level social control, contagion effects, among others) had been controlled for. The effect of concentrated disadvantage on antisocial behaviour appears to be mainly indirect; that is, mediated by other covariates. Baseline antisocial behaviour and contagion effects (peer effects) seem to play a relevant role in explaining away the effect of contextual concentrated disadvantage on the growth of antisocial behaviour scores over time. Only partial support for the idea that strain indicators may predict growth in antisocial behaviour diversity over time was found. Additionally, mediation analysis suggests that it may seem unlikely that the effect of contextual concentrated disadvantage on antisocial behaviour would be mediated by increased levels of strain. In spite of this, the effect of family level SES on the growth of antisocial behaviour diversity does seem to be partially mediated by some of the measured strain indicators. Measurement limitations (antisocial behaviour scale could only increase or remain stable) made it difficult to interpret some unexpected findings regarding strain effects. Regarding social control variables, evidence suggested that, even though family level monitoring predicts antisocial behaviour, neither parental attachment nor monitoring seemed to mediate the effect of contextual disadvantage on antisocial behaviour. In relation to school level social control, none of the relevant measures (school value added education and school attachment) significantly predicted antisocial behaviour in the fully specified model. Moreover, none of the hypothesized mediation effects held up, after controlling for other covariates. Regarding contagion effects (measured using peer variables), macro level concentration of juveniles with arrest records failed to predict individual level growth in antisocial behaviour diversity over time. Nevertheless, micro level concentration of antisocial peers in school and/or in activity spaces did predict growth in antisocial behaviour diversity. Results on micro level concentration of antisocial peers where subject to multicollinearity problems and thus were assessed separately. The effect of both variables (concentration in schools and concentration in activity spaces) was partially mediated by best friend's antisocial behaviour. Furthermore, concentrated disadvantage and concentration of deviant schoolmates in activity space interacted to predict a stronger relationship between affiliation to deviant peers and antisocial behaviour . Results are consistent with both geographic propinquity and co-offending process. , because of a low ecometric reliability found for "concentration of antisocial peers in activity space", results regarding this variable are regarded as tentative. An explanatory hypothesis of observed effects was proposed. Results may suggest that the effect of contextual disadvantage on antisocial behaviour is mainly indirect. Contextual disadvantage might be regarded as an expression of spatial clustering (social sorting) of low SES families due to housing and other governmental policies. In average, low SES families display poorer parenting skills, which might provide at least a partial explanation as regards to why higher concentration of antisocial peers (in school or activity spaces) and increased baseline antisocial behaviour scores are observed in disadvantaged contexts. In turn, higher concentration of deviant peers may be facilitating contagion effects. Results suggest that effects of concentrated disadvantage on antisocial behaviour might be due to simultaneous occurrence of compositional and contextual effects. / Study limitations, policy implications, and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Studies suggest that knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about domestic violence influence the behaviors of Mexican men. However, few interventions have targeted men in efforts to provide domestic violence awareness and health education to a relevant at-risk community that is also challenged by low literacy. Mexican immigrant men, particularly those less acculturated to the dominant U.S. culture, are significantly less likely to access services and more likely to remain isolated and removed from their communities and, more importantly, from their families. The purpose of this study was to explore and examine how cultural beliefs and behaviors influence the potential of domestic violence from the perspective of the Mexican origin, male immigrant. The research drew on existing community academic partnerships to collaboratively develop a pilot intervention that uses popular education techniques and a Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) framework. The specific aims were: 1) to use the principles and practices of CBPR to ensure that the issues addressed and results obtained are relevant to Latinos in Multnomah County, 2) to identify the beliefs, attitudes, and culture about domestic violence and male health for a population of men who are immigrants and of Mexican origin, 3) to develop and prioritize intervention strategies that are community defined, 4) to implement and evaluate a four week pilot project that utilizes community defined, literacy independent curriculum and popular education techniques to address male and family wellness and the prevention of domestic violence. Nine men participated in this study who reported inadequate or marginal functional literacy at approximately a 4.5 grade level. The findings also revealed a strong consensus among the participants' that there is confusion surrounding what constitutes domestic violence and/or what behaviors and social barriers place them at risk for health conditions. In summary, we found that the domestic violence in the Latino communities cannot be approached as a single issue; it needs to be embraced from a wellness perspective and the impact of domestic violence and health knowledge is navigated by experiences of one's past and present. Combining the tools of CBPR with the tools of popular education may allow researchers to address the Latino male's concerns with literacy while also examining other, less immediately visible, concerns. When you take the focus off such a delicate subject such as domestic violence and reframe the issue in terms of holistic health, you will then find a more cooperative and less defensive population to work with.

Mgaga, an informal settlement in KwaZulu, south of Durban, on Cele-Zulu polity land, had an indigenous, albeit urban, system of Zulu land tenure in 1980. Mgaga's transformation, from an area with scattered homesteads in 1959 to an informal settlement, was linked to local and external factors. The external factors were, regional industrialisation, urbanisation and apartheid policies which involved, the division of South Africa into ethnically based 'homelands'; controlled Black access to 'White' cities; an urban management system for 'homeland' townships, like Umlazi township which abutted Mgaga. Umlazi's development and urban management system involved, the resettlement of members of the polity; the removal of their office bearers from their posts; and the phased building of the township; which caused cumulative effects in Mgaga. I link these external factors to the behaviour of Mgaga's residents, who transformed the area's land tenure system, by using Comaroff's dialectical model (1982), where the internal dialectic interacts with external factors to shape behaviour at the local level. I analyze the Zulu ethnography to show that the internal dialectic in Zulu social organisation, and in Mgaga, is centred around fission and integration; and that the integrating hierarchy associated with Zulu social organisation and the Zulu land tenure system is composed of groups with opposed interests in the same land. Within this hierarchy entrepreneurship and coalition formation influence the transfer of land rights. Also, rather than rules determining the transfer of land in the land tenure system, processes associated with the interaction of external factors with the internal dialectic, within terms of the cultural repertoire associated with the system, shape local behaviour; and the system's rules are manipulated within this cultural repertoire by individuals striving for gain. This results in different manifestations of the internal dialectic in the Zulu land tenure system, i.e. a range of variations in the Zulu land tenure system, including different local level kinship groups; a variety of terminology and rights held by office bearers; and communal and individualised land rights. The external factor of urbanisation interacted with the internal dialectic in Mgaga, manifested in terms of an ongoing izigodi (wards) dispute -including its boundaries, to shape residents' behaviour, so that some introduced an informal settlement and others resisted its geographical spread. This informal settlement development, where eventually purely residential land rights were transferred for cash to strangers by strangers, with no role for polity officials, was an urban variation of the Zulu land tenure system, because of the continued existence of the internal dialectic in Zulu social organisation in the local system, with the integration side being expressed by the community overrights. Characteristics found in Mgaga, such as kinship diminution; the individualisation and sale of land rights; and the ongoing influence of polities; are found elsewhere in Africa where informal settlements have developed on indigenous land tenure systems. Therefore the transformation of Mgaga's land tenure system to urban forms is not an isolated phenomenon, and my dialectical ransactional approach may have an applicability beyond the context of the Zulu land tenure system.

The primary objective of this thesis is to account for the fertility decline among Abagusii women in South-western Kenya. The motivation behind the study was based on the fact that the fertility trends associated with this group of people had not been studied before. This is surprising because the Abagusii recorded one of the world's highest total fertility rates of 10.4 in 1979 (Omosa 1994; Osiemo 1986; Oucho 1990), but has also experienced significant fertility decline. The total fertility rate in 2004 stood at 4.7, (Anyara 2009). The analytical framework that is adopted is Stover's (1998) adaptation of the Bongaarts et. al. (1984) Proximate Determinants Model. These determinants such as contraceptive use, post-partum insusceptibility, sexual activity, abortion and sterility represent behavioural and biological variables that affect fertility directly. The manner in which they are employed involves using the index which indicates the extent to which each proximate determinant reduces the fertility of the group in question.

No abstract included. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

This thesis examines the changing role of Indian women, particularly in northern Canadian communities where the pace of directed change has been compressed during the past twenty-five years. In the area now designated 'Yukon Territory' live descendents of Athapaskan, Inland Tlingit and Tagish speaking peoples. It is suggested here that the woman's role is potentially very important in determining the direction of change within Indian communities. Despite radical alterations in the Indian way of life, discontinuity is less abrupt for the women because the role of mother links them both with the past and with the future. In a situation of change, links are necessary to bridge the gap between the past and the future if cultural identity is to be maintained. Cross-cultural data suggests that women's potential in this role is being recognized in many areas of the world. In Canada, this is frequently ignored. Indian men and women are often lumped as an undifferentiated group without recognition of individual needs and capabilities. Since the building of the Alaska highway and the opening up of mines, an industrial economy has displaced the former hunting and trapping economy in the Yukon. Many Indian men are abandoning traditional economic pursuits and are expected to compete with non-Indians in activities for which they are often not technically or psychologically prepared. In the new cultural environment Indian women are presented with opportunities for independent activity which were traditionally not available to them. With new opportunities come new and often conflicting expectations, held both by Indians and by non-Indians, about ways in which an Indian woman should behave. A variety of government agencies claim a vested interest in, and a responsibility for, an Indian family. Each agency places independent demands on the mother, often with very little comprehension of her aims, goals and values. Indian women have access to sources of information which are less available to Indian men. They use this information to reformulate their own ideas about their place in the changing environment. Practical possibilities for greater involvement of women in change do exist; however, this involvement trust occur on the women's own terms rather than solely on the terms of individuals who deal with women in an administrative capacity. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

This research is a qualitative study that explores the gender role ideology of Black and White men between the ages of 18-30. The study found that both groups are moving toward egalitarianism on different pathways. The pathways illustrate the effect of racial identity on gender role ideology. White respondents had a progressive egalitarianism which stemmed from ideas reflected individualism, secularization, and the identification with the grand narrative of the United States. Their respondents also reflected postmodern ideas. Overall their ideas reflect larger White racial identity and shows an overlap between the progressive understanding of modernity and with postmodernist ideas of non-deterministic definitions. Black respondents had a collaborative egalitarianism which stemmed from historical racial and economic deprivation. Subsequently, Blacks gender role ideology illustrates collaboration and communal interdependence between of Black men and women, and the Black church. Blacks tended to view things from a social perspective that was often reactionary. Overall, their ideas reflected the larger Black racial identity which emphasizes collaboration between men and women and a reliance on community based institutions like the Black church.

Thesis ( M.A.( Social Work)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / This study presents qualitative findings on lived experiences of migrant female youth in Musina, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Studies reveal that young females, more especially those from the African continent, migrate to foreign countries in large numbers for better livelihoods. A growing number of women, African women in particular, migrate more than ever to meet their own or their families’ economic needs. Some, of course, flee from wars and mostly migrate for better living conditions. Several studies show that many of these women migrate to South Africa. This is because South Africa is amongst the continent’s most popular destinations for Africa’s female migrants. Upon their arrival in South Africa, studies reveal that migrant female youth are faced with a vast number of challenges such as poverty and exclusion from accessing basic services. It is from this background that this study sought to explore lived experiences of migrant female youth in Musina. Nine female migrant youth accommodated by a church shelter in Musina were purposively and conveniently selected to participate in the study. Semi-structured face to face interviews were used to purposefully collect data that saturated at participant number 9. Thematic data analysis was used with the assistance of the Nvivo software to manage and organise data. The narrative theory was used in the study as it allowed the researcher insight and understanding when migrant female youth narrated their experiences and challenges they encounter as migrants in a foreign country. Findings reveal that many female migrant youths illegally migrate to South Africa in search of better livelihoods that are unavailable in their countries of origin. Furthermore, findings indicated that migrant female youth find themselves living in extreme poverty in the host country. However, the female youth employ various coping strategies for their sustainable livelihoods. They also experience exclusion from accessing healthcare services and face blatant xenophobia in the hands of local South Africans. It can therefore be concluded that migrant female youth face a number of challenges in their everyday lives as migrants in South Africa. It could also be helpful to integrate South Africa’s basic service delivery to include services for female migrant youth. / National Research Foundation (NRF)

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to examine, through the use of the ethnographic interview (Spradley, 1979), residential preferences, as well as the stated reasons for relocation of African American women who live in a predominantly White, Utah Mormon culture. The "push and pull" factors that impacted the women's decisions to come to and/or remain in Utah were qualitatively analyzed in some detail. The end goal of the research was to determine whether Utah was perceived as a desirable residence by and for African American women.Residential preference is a complex issue which requires an in depth explanation. The prominent discovery was a conflict that arose between the Mormon and non-Mormon women. An explanation of the conflict lies with one of two possibilities. The first being essentialism, and the second historically racist behavior on the part of the Mormon church.