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Acceptance and use of corporal punishment among parents of biologic and non-biologic children. (open access)

Acceptance and use of corporal punishment among parents of biologic and non-biologic children.

Objective: Differences between biologic and non-biologic parents' acceptance and use of ordinary corporal punishment and use of explaining/reasoning as a disciplinary tool are examined from a sociobiological theoretical perspective. Method: Cross tabulations are used on data from a national survey conducted by the Gallup Organization in 1995. Results: Contrary to predictions, differences between biologic and non-biologic parents' acceptance of ordinary corporal punishment and the use of explaining/reasoning are not statistically significant. In addition, biologic parents are found to use ordinary corporal punishment significantly more often than non-biologic parents. Conclusions: The sociobiological theoretical perspective likely underestimates the influence of culture and social structure on parent-child interactions.
Date: May 2006
Creator: Hall, Ellie Tiedeman
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effects of Labeling and Stigma on the Social Rejection of Striptease Performers (open access)

The Effects of Labeling and Stigma on the Social Rejection of Striptease Performers

This study uses survey data collected from a convenience sample of undergraduate students (N=89). A vignette survey design is employed to measure social rejection of striptease performers compared to a control group. Data is also collected on negative stereotypes held about striptease performers, which are correlated with social rejection. Link and Phelan's conceptualization of the stigma process provides the theoretical framework for this analysis. Findings suggest that striptease performers experience higher levels of social rejection and are perceived more negatively than the control group and that endorsement of negative stereotypes is associated with social rejection.
Date: December 2006
Creator: Ebeid, Omar Randi
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effects of Trade Liberalization Policies on Human Development in Selected Least Developed Countries (open access)

The Effects of Trade Liberalization Policies on Human Development in Selected Least Developed Countries

This dissertation examines the effects of trade liberalization policies (represented by membership in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization on selected Least Developed Countries' (LDCs) human development (represented by the Human Development Index). In this dissertation, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and World Trade Organization (WTO) policies are theorized to have two distinct types of effects: their direct effect and their indirect effect. Two questions are focused on: first, what is the effect (total, direct and indirect) of WTO policies on human development for selected LDCs? Second, what is the effect (total, direct and indirect) of WTO policies on human development for selected developing/developed countries (i.e. non-LDCs) holding economic development constant? Using the dependency theory of development as a theoretical basis, this dissertation examines the assumptions of modernization-theory-based policies as expressed in trade liberalization policies (i.e. the implementation of comparative advantage and now market fundamentalism) with world-system analysis techniques. To examine these questions, four panel regression models are constructed to measure the total, direct and indirect effects of WTO policies during the near-term (1998-2003) and during a longer historical term (1975-2000). The data for the analyses are taken from seven different sources of international data. …
Date: December 2006
Creator: Ray, Elizabeth Thompson
System: The UNT Digital Library
Explaining Juvenile Delinquency: A Test of Robert Agnew's General Strain Theory, Utilizing the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health Data (open access)

Explaining Juvenile Delinquency: A Test of Robert Agnew's General Strain Theory, Utilizing the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health Data

Strain theory has a long academic lineage for explaining criminal and deviant behavior from the classical writings of Emile Durkheim to the contemporary writings of Robert Agnew. The purpose of this research is to conduct an empirical test of Agnew's general strain theory utilizing Wave 1 data from the 1994-1996 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health data (Add Health) (N = 6,503). Utilizing the Add Health data set represents a new attempt at empirically evaluating Agnew's theory. Scales were constructed by the author operationalizing the propositions of general strain theory utilizing variables from this data set. Regression was used to find out if juvenile delinquency is associated with Agnew's general strain theory. Research findings show that taken together, the propositions of general strain theory, cumulative measures of failure to achieve goals, loss of valued objects and introduction of stressful events are all statistically significant predictors of juvenile delinquency. Regression and scale correlations indicated a low positive relationship between juvenile delinquency and Agnew's general strain theory propositions. This study represents an attempt in utilizing a data set which has not been used before to empirically test general strain theory.
Date: December 2006
Creator: Gullion, John Gregory
System: The UNT Digital Library
Health Care Among Low-income, White, Working-age Males in a Safety Net Health Care Network: Access and Utilization Patterns (open access)

Health Care Among Low-income, White, Working-age Males in a Safety Net Health Care Network: Access and Utilization Patterns

This study seeks to provide information relevant to public policy that will lead to increased access and utilization among this vulnerable population and to reinforce the validity of the behavioral model for vulnerable populations. This study is a secondary analysis of data collected in a study that examined adult, working-aged patients within the John Peter Smith Health Network, which is a large, urban, tax supported county health care system in Fort Worth, Texas. From a sampling frame of 10,000 patients, the study analyzed data for 243 low-income, white, working-age males, collected from computer assisted telephone interviews in 2000. Cross-tabulations and bivariate logistic regressions were used to analyze the effect of 8 independent variables (age, marital status, insurance, employment status, a usual source of care, competing needs, experiences with paperwork, and perceived health status upon 5 dependent variables pertaining to unmet health care, unmet prescription medicine needs, unmet dental needs, utilization of doctors in emergency departments, and overnight hospital stays. The results show the safety net system is failing to meet the needs of this vulnerable population. The findings indicate white men who found it necessary to forgo health care due to other needs were almost five (4.973) times as likely …
Date: August 2006
Creator: Whitworth, Keith Hugh
System: The UNT Digital Library
The health status of people living with HIV/AIDS and in treatment in the United States. (open access)

The health status of people living with HIV/AIDS and in treatment in the United States.

Vulnerable populations comprise a growing number of people living with HIV/AIDS and are at increased risk for poorer health outcomes. The purpose of this research was to approximate the effect of the Ryan White CARE Act on the health status of people living with HIV/AIDS who were receiving medical care in the United States. The vulnerable populations model was utilized to identify appropriate variables for analysis as well as to provide a sequencing for the testing of models. Data analyzed in this study came from the 1996 Baseline Survey of the HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study (HCSUS), a cooperative study between RAND and the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (now known as the Agency for Health Care Quality and Research). Three analyses sequences, using different dependent variables, to estimate health status were conducted. In the first analysis, health status was measured by CD-4 count and stage of illness. In the second analysis, only CD-4 counts were used for health status. In the final analysis, health status was estimated based on AIDS diagnosis. Each of the three analyses included the same independent variables: race, gender, education, sexual orientation, income, insurance status, region of the country, receipt of case …
Date: August 2006
Creator: Tilton, Abigail C.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Reformulating a link between social influence network theory and status characteristics theory and a method for testing that link. (open access)

Reformulating a link between social influence network theory and status characteristics theory and a method for testing that link.

The impact of social influence from others on choices made by subjects and how this influence accumulates was studied by secondary analysis of reported experimental data. To explain this impact a link is proposed between social influence network theory (SINT) and status characteristics theory (SCT). The link formula transforms stay probabilities for different status relationships of subject with one disagreeing other agent into horizontal axis coordinate values while stay probabilities of subject given two disagreeing others are transformed into vertical-axis coordinate values corresponding to the horizontal axis values for further analyses. The results support the utility of the proposed link between the two theories.
Date: May 2006
Creator: Hollander, James Fisher
System: The UNT Digital Library
Reported Impact of a Correctional Facility's Presence on Community Solidarity: Huntsville, Texas (open access)

Reported Impact of a Correctional Facility's Presence on Community Solidarity: Huntsville, Texas

The problem examined is community solidarity in a well-established prison town. The primary question addressed in this study is "what is the reported impact of a correctional facility's presence on community solidarity?" This study is concerned with the community's perception about the problems, as well as the benefits involved in the housing of a prison and in particular the solidarity of the community. The relevant literature dates from 1929 to 2004 and examines a wide range of concepts associated with community studies and prison studies. Based on themes found in the review of prison literature; work issues, safety, concern about children, stress, community image, benefits, community identity, and community cohesion, seven research questions were constructed. A semi-structured interview was conducted of 81 residents of Walker County in Huntsville, Texas. Huntsville houses 9 prisons. The prison system is the primary employer in the county. A qualitative data analysis using Altius/tr as a tool for content analysis was used. Throughout the data, community residents consistently indicated solidarity. Emerging from the data were seven themes associated with community solidarity:(a) unqualified community pride, (b) normalization, (c) defensiveness against the media, (d) qualified community pride, (e) denial, (f) community and myths, (g) economics.
Date: May 2006
Creator: Nation, Patricia Ann Campo
System: The UNT Digital Library

A study of continuing bonds and their impact on life attitudes in parents of murdered children.

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
For most of the past century, the positive outcome of grief in the West was characterized as the relinquishment of the bond to the deceased. Phrases such as "let go", "move on", and "get over it" were, and continue to be, common to the language of this pursuit. This 'breaking bonds' perspective does not take into account other means of grief resolution, nor does it consider historical or cultural findings. Consequently, reports of bereaved parents who indicate resolution of grief yet maintain a continued relationship with their deceased child were not given much attention until the 1990s. This research employed a Durkheimian approach, taking the social bond as the starting point of inquiry and examined continuing bonds of parents to their murdered children. How these bonds were related to the parents' attitudes of re-investing in life and their level of grief was measured. The relationship between the parents' level of grief and their life attitudes was also assessed. The sample consisted of 46 parents living in North Texas whose child had been murdered three or more years ago. A triangulated methodology was utilized and the data were collected by means of participant observation, unstructured interviews, and a mailed questionnaire which …
Date: May 2006
Creator: Haag, Marcy J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Working Lifestyles and Sleepless Nights: The Role of Work in Patient Explanatory Models of Insomnia (open access)

Working Lifestyles and Sleepless Nights: The Role of Work in Patient Explanatory Models of Insomnia

Interviews conducted with patients receiving treatment for insomnia at one of two sleep medicine clinics, located in Texas and Oregon, suggest that work is a pivotal influence in shaping the respondents' interpretations, explanations and behaviors relating to insomnia. "Work" includes such facets as the nature of one's occupation, the associated volume or amount of work required, mental demands related to work, work schedules and work-related stress. Specifically, results reveal: 1) nearly 60% of the sample identify work as a primary or perpetuating cause of their insomnia, 2) respondents often report work as influencing the nature and importance of their sleep, 3) sleep is considered a problem, and medical intervention is solicited, after work is affected, and 4) work performance is a major consideration in determining treatment efficacy and compliance.
Date: December 2006
Creator: McClellen, Dana L.
System: The UNT Digital Library