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Decreased educational attainment has been associated with numerous factors such as teenage pregnancy, repeat pregnancy, risky sexual behavior, substance use, depression, and parental distress. Educational attainment was examined among a group of predominantly Mexican American teenage mothers who were considered at high risk to have a repeat pregnancy, contract sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and use substances. Project Success Longitudinal Study is part of a national study funded by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. Participants were recruited from eight traditional high schools in a large South Texas school district, an area with a high rate of teenage pregnancy and substance use. The treatment intervention included a multidimensional curriculum that was implemented in the participants' high schools in addition to home- and school-based case management services. It was hypothesized that participants who received the intervention would be more likely to attain their high school degree or equivalent and that amount of treatment received would be associated with educational attainment. Additionally, it was hypothesized that profiles of participants who attained their high school degree or equivalent would differ in the areas of parental distress, social support, symptoms of depression, and substance use when compared to participants who did not attain their high school degree or equivalent. Results indicated that participants who received the intervention reported increased educational attainment during the first two years of the study. Additionally, all participants experienced positive changes on various psychosocial measures.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of maternal stress as it relates to the mothers' perceived social behaviors of their preschool children in both immigrant Korean families in the US and Korean families in Korea. The subjects included 49 immigrant Korean mothers in the US and 52 Korean mothers in Seoul, Korea. This study is relevant to current research because of the dramatically increasing Korean immigrants in the US and needed information concerning unique cultural and psychosocial needs of Korean-Americans. All mothers completed the Demographic Survey, Parenting Stress Index (PSI), and Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales-2 (PKBS-2). Statistical analyses of the data used for the study were multiple regressions, independent t-tests, and Pearson correlation coefficients. Data analysis revealed that (a) there were different demographic variables affecting maternal stress between immigrant Korean mothers in the US and Korean mothers in Korea; (b) there was no significant difference in maternal stress and mothers' perceptions of their preschool children's social skills in the areas of social cooperation, social interaction, and social independence between both groups; (c) there was a significant difference in preschool children's behavioral problems in the areas of externalizing and internalizing social-emotional behaviors between both groups; (d) there was a negative relationship between maternal stress and mothers' perceptions of their preschool children's social skills, and (e) there was a positive relationship between maternal stress and mothers' perceptions of their preschool children's behavioral problems in both groups. Findings from this study showed that US immigrant Korean children and their mothers could experience stress in mother-child interaction and culturally expected gender behaviors. This study provides information that could be helpful for early childhood educators who work with Korean young children and their families in regards to the process of acculturating to the United States.

Kim, Ji Hye. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-74). / ABSTRACT --- p.i / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iii / LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES --- p.v / Chapter CHAPTER ONE --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- BACKGROUND OF STUDY --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- LAYOUT OF THESIS --- p.4 / Chapter CHAPTER TWO --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.5 / Chapter 2.1 --- DEFINITION OF SCHOOL LIFE SATISFACTION --- p.5 / Chapter 2.2 --- STUDENTS' SOCIAL RELATIONS AND SCHOOL LIFE SATISFACTION --- p.8 / Chapter 2.3 --- SOCIAL RELATIONS AND KOREAN CONTEXTS --- p.19 / Chapter 2.4 --- FOCUS OF THESIS --- p.20 / Chapter CHAPTER THREE --- THE EMERGENCE OF THE HIERARCHICAL SCHOOL SYSTEM IN SOUTH KOREA --- p.21 / Chapter 3.1 --- EDUCATIONAL EXPANSION DURING THE COUNTRY'S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT --- p.21 / Chapter 3.2 --- THE EMERGENCE OF ELITE HIGH SCHOOLS AND THEIR REPID DEVELOPMENT --- p.22 / Chapter 3.3 --- VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOLS EDGED OF THE HIERARCHY OF HIGH SCHOOL SYSTEM --- p.25 / Chapter CHAPTER FOUR --- METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS --- p.30 / Chapter 4.1 --- HYPOTHESES --- p.30 / Chapter 4.2 --- DATA AND SAMPLES --- p.30 / Chapter 4.3 --- VARIABLES --- p.31 / Chapter 4.4 --- METHOD AND ANALYTICAL STRATEGIES --- p.33 / Chapter 4.5 --- RESULTS AND FINDINGS --- p.38 / Chapter CHAPTER FIVE --- FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION --- p.51 / Chapter 5.1 --- MAJOR FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION --- p.51 / Chapter 5.2 --- ADDITIONAL FINDINGS --- p.56 / Chapter 5.3 --- THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMPLICATION --- p.58 / Chapter 5.4 --- LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH --- p.59 / Chapter 5.5 --- CONCLUSION --- p.60 / APPENDIX A --- p.62 / APPENDIX B --- p.65 / REFERENCES --- p.68