The increased prevalence of childhood obesity is a major concern for society. This study aims at exploring the influence of the parents (especially parental time allocation choices) on children’s obesity-related health outcomes and examining the potential differences between the fathers’ and the mothers’ marginal effects. A household with two parents and one child is modeled. The household production theory and the collective household modeling structure are combined. The model treats the mother, the father and the child as three separate agents with individual preferences. The two parents’ interaction is modeled within the collective model framework by assuming that they will reach Pareto efficient resource allocation between them. In order to capture the dynamics between parents and the child, parents-child interaction is modeled in a two-stage Stackleberg game structure where the child is allowed to have certain decision choices of his/her own. This game structure allows us to explore the parental influence on the child’s health outcomes while allowing the child to have influencing power in the household decision-making process. Based on this theoretical model, a general triangular system with one child’s health production equation and five health inputs demand equations is derived and estimated. The empirical estimation is performed for three systems: pooled model, the younger children model (of age 9 to 11), and the older children model (of age 13 to 15). The empirical results show mother-related variables show more influence on the child’s Body Mass Index (BMI) outcomes compared to father-related variables: mothers’ BMI and mothers’ work-to-home stress spillover are positively related to their children’s BMI while mothers’ time spent with their children is negatively related to their children’s BMI. There exists a complementary relationship between mothers’ income and fathers’ food preparation time. In the older children model, mothers’ own income increases tend to decrease their time spent with their children. The main contribution of this study is that it develops a general theoretical framework to capture the dynamics in parents-child interaction. Based on this theoretical model, empirical analysis and future work can be conducted in a theoretically consistent way.

The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a shift from traditional to comprehensive, developmental counseling programs focusing on prevention programs to assist the "whole" child (e.g., meeting social, emotional, academic, and career needs). This shift has been slow and inconsistent, bringing great variability to the role of school counselor. This study investigates the current functions of school counselors in Northern Virginia. Five research questions are posed: (1) How do counselors spend their time? (2) In what way do counselors want to change their allocation of time to various counseling activities? (3) How do school counselors feel about their preparation to perform various counseling activities? (4) What factors (work setting, gender, level of education, teaching experience, counseling experience, student-to-counselor ratio, desire to change time allocation, and level of preparation) affect how counselors allocate their time? (5) Do differences exist between school counselors' allocation of time to various counseling activities and the mandate of the Virginia Department of Education? Seventy-three Northern Virginia school counselors (45% response rate) responded to a survey on activities in the four major categories recommended by ASCA (counseling, consulting, guidance, and coordination) and in administrative/support services. Participants also were asked to fill-out a one-day log describing their typical counseling functions on any chosen workday. Results indicated that, on an average, Northern Virginia school counselors feel well prepared to conduct counseling activities and allocate 46% of their time to counseling, 17% to consultation, 12% to guidance, 7% to coordination, and 18% to administrative/support services. Counselors desire to spend more time working with students individually and in small groups, and less time in test coordination and administrative tasks. Statistical analyses (p< .05) indicate that allocation of time was significantly affected by work setting, gender, desire to change present time allocation, and level of preparation. These results suggest that Northern Virginia school counselors in this study are performing the functions recommended by the American School Counselor Association and by the Virginia Department of Education. Implications for future research are explored. / Ph. D.

Background and Objectives: Rumination may contribute to depression by impairing the most effective allocation of time across activities. An experiment tested the role of rumination in time allocation across tasks. Methods: State rumination was manipulated by cueing an unresolved goal in one condition (32 participants) and cueing a resolved goal in another condition (32 participants). Trait rumination and depressive symptoms were also measured. All participants completed two word generation tasks and allocated a fixed overall time budget between the tasks by interleaving between them. Results: No difference was found in task performance or time allocation following the manipulation of state rumination. Self-reported rumination did not differ between conditions throughout the experimental task. Differences in time allocation behaviour were associated with trait rumination. Limitations: Use of a non-clinical population and tasks that are unrepresentative of everyday problem solving limited the generalisability of the results and may have limited the effect of the state rumination manipulation on task performance. Conclusions: The absence of a difference in self-reported rumination throughout the task suggests that either the word generation task reduced levels of rumination or that the level of rumination induced did not have a large effect on the cognitive processes required to complete the word generation task.

As the demographics of faculty in American higher are fast changing and more foreign-born faculty entering the system, more information about this new group of entrants needs to be scrutinized. This research is aiming to answer some issues related the foreign-born professors overlooked by the mainstream studies about faculty in American postsecondary education. In the first half of this dissertation, related issues such as highly skilled immigrants and their importance to the economy, national strategy and smart power have been discussed. In the second half of this paper, some empirical research and statistical results revealed significant differences between the foreign-born and native-born faculty in terms of salary, working hours, time allocations and variances of above factors in different fields. This research suggested that foreign-born faculty is treated fairly in American academia and they enjoyed neither salary advantage nor disadvantage in comparison to their native counterparts. However, this author found empirical evidence that foreign-born did emphasize more on research by allocating more share of their work time on research and publications. This study shed some light on the researches about faculty salary, time allocation and some other aspects of employment for the foreign-born faculty. The author hopes to raise the academic interests of this topic and would like to see more detailed studies and researches in this direction.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Agricultural Economics / Timothy J. Dalton / Economic indicators (price, income, taste, and preference) and non-economic (information, time and equipment, food quality and safety) indicators are key elements of the food environment that need further investigation in developing countries.The main objective of this thesis is to evaluate the effect of these factors on consumer behavior in West Africa, especially in Niger and Burkina Faso. The first essay analyzes the implications of world cereal price shocks on rural household welfare in Burkina Faso by establishing a link between farmers and world markets. The approach is grounded in agricultural household modelling with the world price for cereals, transmitted to farmers, through local producer and consumer prices. Household net welfare after a price shock is derived as a function of behavioral responses to local price change induced by the international price shock.The main result of this analysis is that the increase in prices during the period from 2006 to 2014 is translated to welfare improvement ranging from 0.02 percent for 2006 to 0.06 percent for 2011 for farmers in Burkina Faso. The second essay assesses urban consumers' preference for food quality attributes of value-added cereal products in Niamey, Niger. It combines qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate the effect of quality attributes on consumers' food choice. A particular focus is placed on assessing consumers' marginal willingness-to-pay (WTP) for quality attributes in an experimental setting. The evaluation accounted for taste and preference heterogeneity inherent to consumers’ responses to changes in quality attributes. The results suggest market demand inferred from significant marginal WTP for the nutritional quality attribute as measured by the expiration date, the presence of micronutrients, and the country of origin of the product. In addition, demand is found to be highly heterogeneous across consumers socio-demographic and economic characteristics. As a result, better communication and appropriate targeting by food processors and policymakers could be an additional tool to enhance food quality and diet through the market. Finally, the third essay theoretically and empirically assesses the impact of a time-saving food attribute on consumer’s food choice in urban areas of Niger. The theoretical assessment relied on a ``Beckerian’’ time allocation model to derive how a time-saving food product affects consumers' utility and food choice. The empirical approach combines hedonic tasting, random utility and a latent class framework to identify taste heterogeneity patterns underlying consumers' choice. Both the hedonic and latent class models confirm the theoretical prediction that a time-saving characteristic can either increase or decrease the demand for food that embodies the attributes. A significant market segment of about 38% includes consumers with a positive valuation of the time-saving product, highlighting the potential of this attribute to increase consumers welfare, reduce energy use and prevent food preparation-related health issues.

In Taiwan, people accepting a higher education are increasing day by day, most of the persons who take an advanced study with the graduate schools. In recent years, the implementation of the recurrent education policy, offer to individuals return to school with the chance to receive a higher education. But as to on-the-job master programme students, it makes students' social role tend towards pluralism and complicated. To participate in receiving an education, they must give consideration to the roles, such as family , working and learner ,etc¡K. Effective time allocation to them becomes relatively important. The purpose of this research lies in understanding that on-the-job master programme students daily activities and time allocation include the sleep, housework, work , child care, sports, prepare lessons, school commute, attend classes ,etc. And understands the conflict state of gain and loss analysis after them start to study in the curriculum of graduate school, and probe into a difference situation change produced by different individuals to analyse the influence main factors of the time allocation and the conflicts. Probe into the basis of obtaining the theory via documents first in this research, and then adopt questionnaire investigation method , have with National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) on-the-job master programme class , master class and class of master credit students as the target, total and elect 327 students and carry on the survey as studying samples, get 302 effective questionnaires. The data we use the statistics methodology to carry on quantitative analysis, and discover that, sketches it as follows: First, the on-the-job student's sample of the master of NSYSU takes the majority with management college , master's class , male , married , with more than one children , full-time-job workers under the age of 40. Secondly, to sum up that on-the-job students¡¦ time allocation , sleep time is 6.50 hours on average every day, housework spend 1.10 hours, spend 8.71 hours at work, child-bearing is 1.19 hours, sport time spend 0.38 hour, prepare lessons time is 1.62 hours; spend 9.45 hours in classes, and spend 3.93 hours for communication to school per week . The third, studying in the gain and loss after attending the graduate school, the on-the-job students showing differences about losses in various fields. They think the most loss is the recreation time; secondly is the loss time of family life , the third are personal health and working time , the least loss is the incomes. The fourth, ¡§time allocation¡¨, ¡§gain and loss¡¨ and ¡§time conflict¡¨ will be different to some extent when changing factors in different backgrounds.

This paper is a follow-up study about working students¡¦ job stress, family stress, and time allocation based on Tsai(2004) and Shian(2001)¡¦s studies. Job stress, family stress, and time allocation are found differing among working students of different gender and family life cycles. We further study the interaction caused by these two independent variables. In this paper, we also set ¡§nationality¡¨ as another independent variable to compare the different characteristics between Taiwan and the USA. Several important findings as following: 1. Exercise time is a critical variable to discriminate high-stressed and low- stressed group. In the USA sample we also find gender and needs of taking time off from work to school are indicators, and marriage status in the Taiwan sample. 2. Job and family stress are influenced by the interaction between gender and nationality. American females have higher family stress than males. Taiwanese males have higher job and family stress than American males. 3. Time allocation is influenced by the interaction between gender and family life cycle, and the interaction between nationality and family life cycle. Before children growing up, females¡¦ time resource has been occupied by chore and baby-sitting, which decreases working and leisure time. Parents in Taiwan spend more time taking care of their 7~17 years old children than Americans do. After their children reaching age 7, Taiwanese working students stop working too long and exercise more. 4. Work time decreases exercise time and time for family in the Taiwan sample, on the contrary work tome doesn¡¦t correlate with family and exercise time in the USA sample, which suggests that Taiwanese working students may need to learn how to deal with job stress/overworking, and how to manage time resource better.

Time perspective, as measured with the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI), has been empirically linked to many behaviors including health behaviors, time spent with family and friends, and career decisions. This dissertation research builds on investigations of time perspective by testing hypotheses about the relationship between each of Zimbardo’s five time perspectives with residual time allocation, recreation experience preferences, and health and life satisfaction. Using a short questionnaire and time diary data, the relationship between how individuals frame time in the present, past, or future and how they allocate their discretionary time is described. Findings provide the foundation for continued study of the relationship of time perspective and recreation. Next, the relationship between an individual’s time perspective and the benefits they seek from recreation are identified. Using results from a selfadministered mail questionnaire, hypotheses about the benefits sought by adults with different time perspectives are tested. Finally, results from the mail questionnaire are again used to test hypotheses about the relationship between time perspective, physical health, psychological health and life satisfaction. Findings provide information about the impact of different time perspectives on individual wellness and happiness. Moreover, results provide a tool for targeting adults in need of leisure education. In summary, this study provides a starting point for the use of time perspective in leisure research. Much replication, extension and application research will be required to extend findings from current results using student and general population samples. The dissertation is organized in four sections. An introductory section presents the theoretical orientation for research. The second, third, and fourth sections explicate the relationship of Zimbardo’s five time perspectives with residual time allocation, benefits sought from recreation, and health and life satisfaction.

We use data drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Cohort to study the effects of leaving school in an economic downturn on sleep quality and quantity. We account for the potential endogeneity of economic conditions at school leaving using instrumental variables based on birth year and early state of residence. We find that men who leave school in an economic downturn initially experience lower quality sleep, but these men are able to experience improved sleep quality over time. Women who leave school in an economic downturn experience better sleep quality, although the effect emerges over time. We find that leaving school in an economic downturn increases sleep quantity among men and women. We document heterogeneity by work type.

One of the family's responsibilities is to conduct activities of early childhood education and child care which prepare children for further education and human capital development. This study focused on family behavior in allocation of time and income for investment in children. This study used a pre-existing database with a total sample of 301 rural families with one child aged 2-5 years from three villages of Agam (West Sumatera) and two villages of Wonogiri (Central Java). Interviews and testing were conducted at each sample's home. The data were analyzed using descriptive and statistical analyses. Rich and small families invested significantly more time and money in children than poor and large families. Mother's working time, child's age, and family type had negative and significant influence on the amount of time spent on children. The families that devote more time in children spend and invest less money in children. Javanese families in the study invested less money but more time in children, while Minangese families invested more money but less time. The amount of time spent for children had a positive and significant influence on the child's nutritional status, and an insignificant impact on the child's IQ score. Besides the amount of time devoted to children, the child's nutritional status also was influenced by the child's age and gender. Also, the child's IQ score was significantly and positively influenced by the father's education and negatively by family size, family type, and the child's age. Based on the findings, it was apparent that poor families may be continuously trapped in poverty, because of less ability to invest in children. Parental investment in children may lead to better child quality. This study provides evidence that mother's time spent outside the home may lead to less time investment, and less time investment may negatively influence the child's nutritional status. As policy is formulated, non-economic as well as economic aspects should be considered. Additional research is needed to further explore the most appropriate measure of child quality and the variables which influence child quality. / Ph. D.