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.

Socioeconomic status (SES) has been shown to reliably predict parenting practices, family well-being, and psychological outcomes throughout the lifespan. The current study employed a cross-sectional, quantitative design in which adult participants (N = 336) completed an online survey measuring demographic variables, financial stress, attachment security, and psychological well-being. The study results suggest that (a) both current and family history of financial stress negatively predicted attachment security, (b) SES positively predicted general psychological well-being, although individual SES factors (e.g., income, subjective SES, financial stress) demonstrated nuanced relationships with well-being, life satisfaction, and resilience, (c) family history of financial stress and attachment security mediated the relationship between calculated social status and psychological well-being, and (d) the mediated relationship between calculated social status and psychological well-being via the pathway of attachment security was significant for racial/ethnic minorities, but not for White participants. The present findings contribute to the current literature by (1) including multidimensional measurements of SES, (2) addressing nuances in the relationship between SES and attachment, (3) emphasizing the role of financial stress on attachment security, and (4) providing initial cross-cultural considerations in the relationships among SES, attachment, and psychological well-being. Future researchers are encouraged to conduct longitudinal analyses, amplify sample recruitment efforts, and expand SES, attachment, and racial/ethnic identity measurement. Lastly, the current study has significant clinical implications regarding multiculturalism and social justice, relational schemas developed in context of financial stress, and cognitive appraisal regarding subjective SES.

This thesis consists of four self-contained essays in the sociology of educational stratification. Study I draws on newly collected survey data to assess the biases that arise in estimating socioeconomic differences in achievement when relying on parent and student reported data on social background. The main finding is that student reports on parental occupation overcome both the problem of misreporting that plagues other data collected from children, and the equally damaging problem of selective nonresponse among parents. Conditional estimates of ethnic disparities are relatively unaffected by these issues. Study II deals with student survey reports on the number of books in the home. A prominent string of authors has favoured this variable as a social background proxy over parental occupation or education based on its strong associations with educational outcomes. The paper applies various methods to large-scale student assessment data to show that these associations rest not on higher reliability as commonly assumed, but rather on two types of endogeneity. Low achievers accumulate less books and are also prone to underestimate their number. Study III uses survey and register data to study immigrant parents' education and its associations with children's achievement in recent Swedish cohorts. Two aspects of parental education are distinguished: the absolute years of schooling and a relative place in the source country's educational distribution. Parents' absolute education turns out to predict children's test scores and grades, whereas relative education is a better predictor of their educational aspirations. The result is of some consequence for studies seeking to assess ethnic disparities net of observed parental characteristics. Study IV extends the positional approach of Study III to understand immigrants' self-perceived social status and income satisfaction in European countries. Those higher educated by origin country than host country standards make more dismal assessments of their current situation than do other immigrants in otherwise similar circumstances. This is attributed to a social contrast mechanism and argued to be of relevance in understanding longer-term patterns of social and economic integration, including educational decisions made by the second generation. / Avhandlingen består av fyra fristående studier som alla berör utbildning och social stratifiering. Studie I undersöker med nyinsamlade enkätdata hur sociala skillnader i skolprestation riskerar att felskattas med bakgrundsuppgifter inhämtade från föräldrar respektive elever. Den viktigaste slutsatsen är att elevuppgifter om föräldrars yrke undviker mycket av den felrapportering som behäftar andra elevsvar, liksom det utbredda problemet med selektivt bortfall bland föräldrar. Villkorliga skattningar av etniska skillnader är relativt opåverkade av dessa metodproblem. Studie II granskar elevers uppgifter om antalet böcker i hemmet. En betydande litteratur har förespråkat denna variabel som ett mått på klasstillhörighet framför föräldrars yrke eller utbildning på grundval av starka samband med elevers studieresultat. Uppsatsen tillämpar en rad metoder på data från en internationell kunskapsutvärdering och finner att sambandens styrka inte vilar på högre tillförlitlighet som tidigare förmodats, utan på endogenitetsproblem av två slag. Lågpresterande elever ackumulerar färre böcker och är dessutom benägna att underskatta deras antal. Studie III använder enkät- och registerdata för att belysa utlandsfödda föräldrars utbildning och dess samband med prestationer bland svenska skolbarn. Två aspekter av utbildningsbakgrund särskiljs: föräldrars utbildningsår samt deras relativa placering i ursprungslandets fördelning. Absolut utbildning visar sig predicera elevers testresultat och betyg, medan relativ utbildning är en bättre prediktor för barns aspirationer. Resultatet är av betydelse för studier av etniska skillnader där statistisk kontroll görs för observerbara föräldraegenskaper. Studie IV tillämpar den positionella ansatsen från Studie III för att förstå utlandsföddas självupplevda status och inkomsttillfredsställelse i europeiska länder. Migranter som är mer högutbildade med ursprungslandets mått mätt än värdlandets tenderar att ha en mer negativ bild av sin nuvarande situation än andra i objektivt liknande omständigheter. Detta kan förstås i termer av sociala referensramar och framhålls som relevant i tolkningen av långsiktiga sociala och ekonomiska integrationsmönster, inklusive de utbildningsval som efterföljande generationer gör. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript. Paper 3: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>

This study sought to determine if there were differences in the types of reading interests of seventh- and eighth-grade pupils associated with their racial origins, their socioeconomic status, or their school environments. It also sought to consider the strength of reading interest scores as related to other variables and to consider the relationship between these scores and the number of hours spent in reading and the change in amount of reading since the previous school year.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

This study investigates both space and time aspects of neighborhood crime distributions using social disorganization as a theoretical framework in the City of Richmond, VA. Neighborhood crime, in this study, might be considered as any type of index crime aggregated to neighborhood level. For the purpose of the present study, however, neighborhood crime only includes "homicide" categorized as an index crime in the Uniform Crime Report (UCR). Homicides in neighborhoods have been realized as rare events, and have become problematic to establish robust statistical models in the literature. With the focus of neighborhood homicide, this study questions the consistency of Social Disorganization Theory (SDT) by the longitudinal research setting. It, therefore, constructs and verifies seven hypotheses (residential mobility, race/ethnic heterogeneity, family disruption, socio-economic status, population density, youth, and vacancy) to test SDT, while it establishes and further confirms its main hypothesis "Neighborhood homicide increase is likely to be associated by the increase in neighborhood social disorganization over time."This study constructs a longitudinal research design with 10 years, uses Census 1990, Census 2000 and homicide data (From the City of Richmond Police Department) as secondary data. Nonetheless, this study uses only two main census decennial years to calculate the other years' structural covariates by the linear interpolation technique such that this study is able to include additional years to construct the essential difference models. Population includes all neighborhoods in the City of Richmond such that this study works with entire population, but no sampling procedure. As an analytical strategy, this study constructs eleven different binomial logistic regressions, whereas it constructs multinomial logistic regressions as difference models to verify the main hypothesis for neighborhood homicide. Once this study realizes clustered neighborhoods with respect to experiencing homicide hotspot(s), it constructs a stepwise multiple regressions model to explore the most important social disorganization variables for the most problematic neighborhoods.In terms of findings, the most important social disorganization variables attributed to homicide distribution in the City of Richmond are: The low SES (Socioeconomic Status), residential mobility, vacancy, population density (across only the concentrated neighborhoods), and family disruption.Accordingly, this study has successfully contributed to the literature around SDT, social crime prevention, and spatially integrated crime policy analysis.

of the thesis Introduction: This dissertation focuses on socioeconomic status and problems with law of problematic opioid and methamphetamine users. Long-term intensive use of drugs leads not only to health impacts, but also social such as the inability of financial autonomy, indebtedness, unemployment, failure to comply with the respective social roles, fiduciary social functioning, poor housing etc. Great number of users are influenced by the drug in situations such as interpersonal relationship, family functioning and partnerships, there is a change of social status, social isolation or exclusion. Effective interventions and service development should always start with a good knowledge of the situation and needs of the user, who claims the service. Claim: The goal of this thesis is finding socioeconomic status and criminal situation of problematic methamphetamine and opioids users consequently draw recommendations towards services that work with these clients. Methods: Cross-sectional questionnaire study was carried among clients who have started a treatment episode or contacted selected facility type such as a contact centre, psychiatric AT ambulance, therapeutic community, medium-term inpatient treatment or replacement therapy. Recruitment into the study took place from June 2015 until October...

The concept of high and low art have a very close relation to social class. There is a prevailing notion within developed countries that certain forms of art are more legitimate and deserving of respect than others due to their association with the upper class. This social aspect of art leads to the question of how art is used in society and whether it should be used in that way. Marxists’ deep interest in class have made their perspective particularly prominent concerning debate on the subject. Having such a deep interest in class, it is expected they have their own opinions on the role of class in art’s usage. Despite their immense influence on the subject, I find the Marxist perspective concerning class and art lacking. In this work, I will attempt to critique the Marxist position on the relation of art and class and attempt to provide a unique perspective on this subject. I will be examining art and class in terms of two questions. First, what is the relationship between class and art and how is art used by social classes? Second, what should the relationship between art and class be and how should art be treated in society? I will first examine the Marxist position through Theodor Adorno and Hebert Marcuse, present Bourdieu’s sociological findings on the subject, and present thinkers outside of the Marxist position while building my position in contrast to these thinkers.<br>

Este trabalho compreende três estudos, tendo por objetivo mais geral analisar o comportamento verbal de pré-escolares em situação de teste e de brinquedo. o primeiro estudo teve por objetivo verificar se a ordem de apresentação de uma gravura e de três séries de pranchas influenciava o comportamento verbal. Foram testadas 48 crianças, de quatro, cinco e seis anos, 50% de cada sexo, sendo todas de classe alta. A metade dos sujeitos foi apresentada inicialmente a gravura e sem seguida as pranchas, e vice-versa. A análise do material coletado não permitiu localizar diferenças entre os sujeitos que foram submetidos às duas sequências. Além disso, não foi encontrada correlação do desempenho nas duas situações. o segundo estudo teve por objetivo estudar o desempenho de 72 crianças das três faixas etárias já referidas, e de nível sócio econômico médio-alto (GA) e baixo (GB e GC} 11 \'ao descrever\' uma gravura e em seguida rotular três séries de pranchas. Quanto as os resultados indicam que: a) houve um maior número de correlações significantes entre cada uma das séries e o total do que nas séries entre si: b) a análise de acertos por Item mostrou que a frequência de palavras com mais de 75% de acerto foi igual à das palavras com menos de 25% de acerto; c) o GA apresentou a maior frequência de palavras com alto e baixo percentual de acertos; d) O GB apresentou a maior frequência de desconhecimento manifesto das pranchas apresentadas; e) a análise focalizando as variáveis faixa etária, sexo e nível sócio-econômico revelou que apenas esta última parece relevante a este tipo de tarefa. Já a avaliação do desempenho face à gravura revelou que: a) foram altas as correlações entre os vários aspectos estudados (vocábulos, come sem re petição, tato considerando o total emitido e sem considerar repetições e sentenças: b) as análises considerando as variáveis faixa etária, sexo e nível sócio-econômico mostraram que apenas esta última, parece relevante. Tão pouco neste estudo foi localizada correlação entre às duas situações. Finalmente, o terceiro estudo visou comparar o desempenho de crianças que apresentaram resultado bom (GD) ou insuficiente (GE) face às pranchas, ao interagir com as suas mães em duas situações de brinquedo, com um quebra-cabeça e com os módulos. Inicialmente os grupos extremos foram comparados, tendo os resultados indica do que eles realmente eram diferentes. Comparou-se os comportamen tos verbais emitidos pela mãe e pela criança, a sequência de inte ração e as pausas existentes nas duas situações. Além disto, con frontou-se as duas situações quanto à eliciação do ,comportamento mais reforçadores positivos, bem como um maior subtotal de estimulos discriminativos verbais: b) na situação módulo\", não foi encontrada diferença quanto aos estImulos liberados, embora tenha ocorrido diferenças quanto à emissão de informações, questões,mandos em geral, reforços positivos, comportamento ecoico e o o subtotal de respostas. todas essas favorecendo o GD. Já a comparaçao das emissões verbais das crianças demonstrou que: a) ao brincar com o quebra-cabeça as crianças de GD liberaram mais informações, tanto como estímulo quanto corno resposta, e além disso, apresentarão um maior sub-total de estimulação; c) ao brincar com o módulo houve uma diferença significante, em favor do GD quanto às informações liberadas (estímulo e resposta), questões formuladas ( também como estímulo e como resposta), frequência de mandos como resposta às solicitações maternas, frequência de respostas estimuladoras do tipo ecoico e finalmente, total de respostas emitidas. O estudo das sequências de interação revelou um padrão idêntico nas duas situações: não houve diferenças na sequência Mãe-mãe, embora tivesse havido nas sequências Mãe-criança, criança-mãe e criança- criança, todas elas favorecendo o GD. Ao considerar as pausas feitas pode ser observado que o GE apresentou períodos grandes de não verbalização nas duas situações tendo diferido significantemente do GE. O resultado do estudo correlacional, indicou que as duas situações são bastante semelhantes em termos de eliciação do comportamento verbal oral. / This work consists of 3 studies, having as a general objective the analysis of the verbal behaviour of kindergarten children playing and being tested. The first study had the objective of verifying if the order of the presentation of a picture and three series of planks influenced the. verbal behaviour. Fourth eight children were tested, four, five and six year olds, 50% of each sex They were all from upper class. Initially, to half of them, the picture was presented then the planks, and then vice-versa. The analysis of the information which was collected in this work did not permit the localization of any difference between the children which were submitted to the two sequences. Besides, no correlation was found of the performance in those two situations. The second study had the objective of studying the performance of 72 children from de same age group, medium-high social-economic level class (GA) and low (GB and GC), during the description of a picture and following the labeling of three series of planks. With respect to the planks the results indicated that: a) there were a greater number of significant correlations amongst each of the series than the total of the series themselves; b) analysis of the correct answer, by item, showed that the frequency of words with more than 75% correct were equal to the words with less than 25% correct; c) the GA showed the greater frequency of words with high and low percentage correct; d)the GB presented the greater frequency Of non-acquaintance when facing the planks; e) the analysis emphasizing the variables of age, sex and social-economic level revealed that only the latter seems to be relevant to this type of work. On the other hand, the appraisal of their performance in front of a picture revealed that: a) the high correlations amounts the various aspects studied (vocabulary with and without repetition, considering the total uttered, without considering repetitions and sentences) these correlations were high; b) considering the various ages, sex and social-economic level, the analysis showed that only the latter seems to be relevant. Even in that study the correlation between the two situations was not localized. Finally, the third study intended to compare the behaviour of children who showed result as good (GD) or insufficient (GE) in front of the planks, when they had the help of their mothers in those two play situations, with a puzzle and with the modulus. Initially the utmost groups were compared, having the results indicating than they were really different. The verbal behaviour uttered by the mother and her child, the sequence of interaction and pauses existent in the two situations were compared. Besides that, the two situations were confronted with respect to the draw out of the verbal behaviour. The analysis of the behaviour of mothers revealed that; a) in the puzzle situation GE mothers had a tendency to utter more \"mands\", command type, and more negative reinforcements, both to stimulate than the GD mothers, the latter had done more positive reinforcements, as well as a bigger sub-total of verbal discriminative stimulus; b) in the situation \"module\" it was not found difference in the liberate stimulus although differences had occourred with respect to the uttering of information, questions, mands, in general, positive reinforcements, echoic behaviour and the sub-total of answers, all these helping the GD. On the other hand, the verbal uttering of children demonstrated that; a)playing with the puzzle the GD children gave more information; as much as an encouragement and answer, and beside that, showed a bigger sub-total of encouragement; b) playing with modules there were a significant difference in favor of GD with respect to the literate liberation encouragement/answer, frequency of mands as an answer to the mother\'s request, frequency of encouragement answer, echoic type and finally total of uttered answer. The study of the interaction sequences revealed an identical pattern in the two situations; there were no difference in the sequence mother-mother, although in had happened in the sequences mother-children, children- mother and children-children, all favoring the GD. Considering the pauses done we can observe that GE presented big periods of non-verbalization in the two situations, showing a significant difference from the GD. The results of the co relational study indicated that the two situations are very similar in terms of expelling the oral/verbal behaviour.

Researchers have linked physical activity (PA) with positive health outcomes. Unfortunately, PA in young people continues to be reported as a concern with many not achieving the recommended guidelines. Further, participation in childhood and adolescence is positively associated with PA into adulthood, highlighting the importance of PA habits in young people for lifelong participation. Gender, socio- economic status (SES), and motivation have all been shown to be important factors that influence participation, and as such are a focus of this thesis. Mixed methods research was adopted to ‘investigate the nature of PA in young people within a Scottish context' including quantitative (study one) and qualitative (studies two and three) methodologies. The initial motivation for study one emerged through my personal interest in understanding the nature of young people's participation in structured club activities and the role SES, gender and motivation play in a Scottish context. Sport is often used as a proxy for PA and as such, young people's participation is frequently reported on sports club based activities. On reflection, this focus on ‘weekly club activity sessions,' rather than a more broad, valid, and reliable measure of PA, limited the application of the findings. Nevertheless, the findings and reflection on the methods used in study one informed the direction of the thesis moving forward. More specifically, SES was found to be the strongest predictor of club activity participation, with those from higher SES taking part in more club activity sessions than those from lower SES. No significant gender differences in participation were found. While SES was the sole predictor of school club activities, perceived competence and intrinsic motivation were also important predictors of participation in out-of-school club activities. The regression models predicted between 5% and 27% of the variance in club participation, highlighting the multi-factorial nature of the influencers of participation. In order to understand the nature of PA more broadly in young people from lower SES within a Scottish context and to investigate the complexity of participation influencers, a qualitative methodology was used. Study two investigated low SES Scottish youths' PA experiences across key development stages (i.e., childhood, adolescence and newly identified early adulthood, study two). Results suggested that young people from low SES participate in a high variety of unstructured PA throughout their lives, which is under reported in the literature. Participation in structured sport based activities in childhood, particularly those in which a young person forms a sport ‘identity,' influences future adherence, but also engagement and enjoyment of school physical education (PE). For many young people, particularly those from less affluent backgrounds, school PE may be the only opportunity for them to participate in structured PA. While some young people embraced school PE, others perceived PE a threatening, so leading them to avoid or drop out altogether. Findings showed that in addition to previous experience, the nature of the PE climate also influenced participation as young people entered early adulthood. As well as shedding light on the broad nature of young people's PA from low SES backgrounds, the findings from study two highlighted the role that schools (e.g., through PE) have in influencing young people's PA and associated attitudes. Study three aimed to investigate young people's PA, motivational influences, and the role of schools from the perspective of qualified Scottish PE teachers, knowledgeable on policy issues and active in the development of future teachers. The main findings from study three showed that family influences (mostly parents) and SES were key towards the formation of young people's attitudes and behaviours towards PA, particularly in sports. Those young people with parents not showing any interest in PA were more likely to be inactive compared to those youngsters with active parents. Young people from lower SES backgrounds were less likely to participate in sports activities, thus preventing them from gaining the necessary experiences (and competencies) needed to successfully take part in many school PE activities. Also, this study found that secondary school PE is perceived by many pupils as threatening which subsequently led many to avoid PE altogether. Many young people are not achieving the curriculum expected health and well-being benefits through school PE. The results also highlighted the huge challenge and role conflict that is apparent for PE teachers in schools, which is a barrier to effective promotion of PA and positive attitudes in a range of young people. This thesis supports the contention that SES is an important factor in young people's PA. While those from lower SES were shown to participate in less structured sport club activity than those from higher SES, evidence emerged suggesting that young people from lower SES participate in a variety of unstructured PA which is underreported in the literature. The complexities of PA participation were also apparent where previous experience, parents and school PE were found to have important roles, which either facilitated or debilitated motivation, and participation. This thesis also highlighted that there are serious challenges in delivering an effective PE experience to pupils with a wide range of ability and backgrounds. These challenges were exacerbated by the vagueness of policy guidance (e.g., within Scotland's curriculum for excellence), the pressures of certification, and the mostly sport dominated culture of PE. Implications for policy and practice in relation to the motivational climate of PEemerged. Recommendations for future research and practice in this area are discussed.