The purpose of this study was to investigate children's contributions to household work and to determine what factors affected the amount of time children spent in household work activities. Data for the study came from the Utah portion of the "Interstate Comparison of Urban/Rural Families' Time Use" which involved 210 two-parent/two-child families in Utah. Data were collected through interviews with the homemakers in each family using time diaries and an information questionnaire.Time use was recorded for two 24 hour days for all family members over the age of five . For the present study an analysis was made of the time contributions to household work by 200 children (87 girls/113 boys) from 114 families. Ninety- s ix of the children were from rural families and 104 were from urban families. Factors considered included sex; place of residence; children's time in school, paid employment, and organizational activities; children's time in social and recreational activities; hours of parental employment; and parents; time in household work. Statistical analysis was done using either a partial correlation coefficient to control for age or a "t" test of the differences between means. Findings revealed that the amount of time children contribute to household work activities varies widely. Some children contribute little or no time to household work while others put in several hours per day. Rural children were found to contribute more time to household work than urban children. Girls did not contribute a significantly greater amount of time to household work than boys, but boys and girls did contribute time to different types of household work activities. Girls were more likely to spend time performing traditionally feminine household tasks and boys were more likely to spend time performing traditionally masculine household tasks . Hours of parental employment and parents' time in household work did not make much impact on children's contributions to work in the home, but it does seem clear that children's time in household work does not substitute for that of adult family members.

The purpose of this study was to examine personal, family, and curriculum variables among high school dropouts with mild disabilities. The review of research literature on dropouts from general and special education assisted in the selection of the variables. The outcome variable (high school dropouts with mild disabilities) and the relationship to the following variables: personal (age, attendance, gender, and ethnicity); family (parents' economic level, parents' educational level, and one vs. two-parent households) and curriculum (academic credits, vocational credits, support credits, and work experience credits) were examined. The research examined the relationship of selected variables to dropouts. Dropout status among students with mild disabilities was found to be 29 percent. When age was examined, increased age was weakly associated with a higher likelihood of becoming a dropout. Increased absenteeism was moderately associated with a higher likelihood of dropping out. However, the strength of the relationship between gender and the drop out status was not significant across any of the three categories of mild disabilities. The analysis of ethnicity found that African-Americans with learning disabilities were more likely to drop out. In addition, the drop out rates for Caucasian youth were statistically significantly lower than drop out rates for other groups. Higher economic level was associated with a lower likelihood of dropping out. Increased educational level and households with two parents were also associated with a lower likelihood of dropping out among students with learning disabilities or mental retardation. The higher the number of credits, the lower the likelihood of dropping out. Dropouts took fewer credits which is not surprising since dropouts by nature have fewer credits. / Ph. D.

The final thesis is focused on changes of familial habits of population with emphasis on married life. The aim of the thesis is to analyse the development of marriages from the demographic point of view. Attention will be brought to the progress of first marriages and to the quantity of complete families. The thesis will also cover the classification of demohraphic phenomenon on the basis of chosen indicators. The last part of the thesis includes the cohort analysis which is based on gender, age, year of marriage and marial status.

With the quality of our South African public education system internationally in question we need to look into supplemental ways to improve the education of our country’s children. Numerous studies have shown that parental involvement has a positive effect on student academic achievement. This study aimed to quantitatively determine the current extent and types of parental involvement in the education of their school-going children, in single-parent/guardian and two-parent/guardian households in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. This included General Education and Training (GET) and Further Education and Training (FET) levels. The method of time-space sampling was used to administer a researcher-created questionnaire ‒ based on Epstein’s (2009) framework of six types of involvement ‒ pertaining to parents/guardians in the Durban CBD. The findings of the study resulted in recommendations pertaining to: the aspects of parental involvement that elicited low levels of involvement such as significant numbers of parents from single-parent households indicating that they would attend parent days at school if they were given a choice of possible attendance days; the need to identify and support parents that are unable to participate as much as they would like to by offering transportation for school meetings or activities, including school governing body and budget meetings; and the requests from parents/guardians regarding the use of technology in the form of sms communication in helping them to stay more informed regarding the progress etc. of their child at school. / ABET and Youth Development / M. Ed. (Adult Education)

Using factors of low income, parents' levels of education, and family composition as determinants of educationally at-risk status, study investigated differences between first generation, undergraduate college students from families in lowest quintile of income in the U.S, One group consisted of students from single-parent households and the other of students from two-parent households. Data were from CIRP 2003 College Student Survey (CSS) and its matched data from the Freshman Survey (Student Information Form - SIF). Differences examined included student inputs, involvements, outcomes, and collegiate environments. Included is portrait of low income, first generation college students who successfully navigated U.S. higher education. The number of cases dropped from 15,601 matched SIF/CSS cases to 308 cases of low income, first generation college students (175 from single-parent households and 133 from two-parent households). Most of the 308 attended private, 4-year colleges. Data yielded more similarities than differences between groups. Statistically significant differences (p < .05) existed in 9 of 100 variables including race/ ethnicity, whether or not English was first language, and concern for ability to finance education as freshman. Data were not generalizable to all low income, first generation college students because of lack of public, 4-year and 2-year colleges and universities in dataset. Graduating seniors' average expected debt in June 2003 was $23,824 for students from single-parent households and $19,867 for those from two-parent households. 32% from single-parent households and 22% from two-parent households expected more than $25,000 of debt. Variables used on SIF proved effective tools to develop derived variables to identify low income, first generation college students from single-parent and two-parent households within CIRP database. Methodology to develop derived variables is explained.