Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1968. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Social groups without formally designated leaders spontaneously form status-based hierarchies in order to facilitate efficient and effective progress toward a common goal. The prevailing theoretical perspectives about who tends to attain status in these groups suggest that status allocation should be context-dependent. That is, the person who is given the most status should have qualities that help the group achieve its goal, and, because goals vary across groups, the characteristics that predict status should also vary. However, most research to date has focused only on the individual differences that predict status across a wide variety of situations, and has largely neglected the role of the specific context in which the group is situated. The primary aim of this dissertation was to investigate the contextualized, interpersonal processes that contribute to status attainment. To this end, I investigated the consistency with which the same people attained status across different groups and relationships, and how stable individual differences and social context interacted to predict status in a variety of situations and relationships. In the first study, N = 346 participants completed up to four activities with four different groups of their peers. Status attainment was moderately consistent across groups. Extraversion and its aspects, assertiveness and enthusiasm, as well as compassion, conscientiousness and intellect predicted status across all four tasks. The largest differences in the predictors of status attainment appeared to be due to how the task was completed, rather than the goal of the task: generally pro-social attributes predicted status attainment in collaborative tasks, whereas neuroticism and low agreeableness predicted status in more knowledge-based, rote tasks. In the second study, N = 651 informants provided perceptions of N = 267 participants. Status was fairly inconsistent across participants’ relationships with different informants. There was some evidence that different personality traits predicted status in different types of relationships: compared to relationships with friends, agreeable and neurotic participants tended to attain status in their romantic relationships, whereas participants low in dominance tended to attain status with their college friends. Together, these results indicate that different personality traits predict status attainment across situations and relationships.

The significance of the contemporary "winter dances" of the Coast Salish has been explained in terms of the Indian's 'search for status'. In this paper I attempt to establish the significance of Indian institutions for the Cowichan's 'search for status'. On the basis of informant interviews, I empirically describe the range of institutions in which a sample of the members of the Cowichan Band participate. Using a typology of institutions, I further delineate the type of viable 'status sets' maintained by band members and characterize the individuals who maintain them. In addition I test a theory which I feel might partially explain the differential participation manifested in the Cowichan status sets but is hopefully applicable to the members of any minority ethnic group. Briefly the theory assumes that: Actors who participate predominantly or exclusively in 'ethnic institutions' do so because their perception or definition of non-ethnics in terms of 'threat' prevents them from attempting to acquire status in non-ethnic institutions. A second hypothesis is also tested, namely that: Actors who participate predominantly or exclusively in ethnic institutions do so because they have failed in attempts to acquire status in non-ethnic institutions. The available data suggests that both the theory and the hypothesis are invalid. Contrary to expectations based on the theory, the perception of non-ethnics in terms of threat is greatest among those actors who negatively evaluate ethnic institutions but who have been unable to acquire non-ethnic status. In order to explain this result new assumptions focusing on the concept of 'negative self-evaluations' are introduced. With regard to the second hypothesis it would appear that predominant or exclusive participation in ethnic institutions is not a reaction to an initial failure to acquire non-ethnic status but more a function of the fact that ethnic statuses are more highly valued than non-ethnic statuses. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

While it is an established fact that participation in voluntary organizations varies directly with social status, the more complex issue of the relationship between the pattern of individuals' rank positions in several status hierarchies and participation still remains unsettled. The purpose of this study is to reexamine Lenski's proposition that status inconsistency is an obstacle to participation in voluntary organizations. The reasoning behind this proposition is that people who have inconsistent, or unequally evaluated, statuses are often exposed to disturbing experiences in social interaction. They react to those experiences with a tendency to avoid or withdraw from certain forms of social intercourse, such as participation in voluntary organizations. It is therefore hypothesized that persons with inconsistent statuses have fewer memberships and are less likely to hold office in voluntary organizations than individuals whose statuses are consistent. The hypotheses are tested in a secondary analysis of survey data for samples of employed adults in two Canadian cities. The status dimensions are education, occupation, and income. Several status inconsistency variables are used, each defined in terms of different combinations of ranks on a pair of status dimensions. The analysis is guided by the assumption that a status inconsistency effect may be conceived as due to statistical interaction between the constituent status variables. Such effects might be present when an additive model of the relationships between two status variables and a given participation variable proves to fit the data inadequately. The analyses, using a dummy-variable multiple regression format, reveal that differences between observed values on the participation variables and the values predicted by a model of additive status effects are generally small and do not show the patterns expected under the hypotheses. Moreover, a nonadditive model, which includes a status inconsistency variable in addition to the two status variables from which it is formed, fails to explain even a moderate amount more variance in the dependent variables than the corresponding additive model. These results suggest that inconsistency between achieved socioeconomic statuses has no appreciable effect on membership or office-holding, over and above the effects of the status variables themselves. The conclusion is that the proposition of a negative association between status inconsistency and participation in voluntary organizations is not supported by the data of this research. It is suggested that these negative findings may be explained in part by dubious assumptions in the status inconsistency argument so far as it relates to participation and by methodological problems associated with identifying status inconsistency effects. However, the idea that frustrating and unpleasant social experiences may adversely affect participation in voluntary organizations is^ sensible and deserves further investigation. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

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A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, 2017 / Over the years, epidemiological research has seen differing levels of the prevalence of hypertension across socio-economic strata. However in Sub-Saharan Africa, the patterns of association and underlying risk factors have often been poorly understood. In this study, we examined the extent to which socio-economic factors affect systolic and diastolic blood pressure across gender. Furthermore we explored whether certain risk factors associated with hypertension mediate this relationship. We used data from the third phase of the National Income Dynamic Study conducted in South Africa in 2012 on more than 18,000 adult individuals. Structural equation modelling and multiple linear regression were used to estimate the relationship between blood pressure and various behavioural, demographic and socio-economic variables. These results were then compared to determine which technique provides more meaningful results. A higher socio-economic status was associated with a higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure in both males and females. Furthermore, body mass index was a mediator of the indirect effect of socio-economic status on blood pressure. Smoker status, alcohol consumption, physical exercise, emotional well-being and resting heart rate were also mediators; however their role was modest in comparison to BMI. One of the findings of this study is that a reduction in the BMI of an individual will have an impact on lowering hypertension. Furthermore, the promotion of healthy behaviours that target higher income groups need to be established so that these groups can make rational decisions in choosing their behaviours. / XL2018

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