The concepts of marginality, social class, and goal-orientation were operationally defined. The relationships between these concepts were explored in order to discern their utility in describing the marginal conditions of Indian migrants to an urban area. Marginality was found to be reflected by the extent of identification of Indian migrants with the urban community. Marginal conditions were also more closely linked to social class than goal orientations of parents. Differences in the types of marginality experienced are related to the length of residence in the urban area.

Patterns of participation in formal organizations by residents of a rural non-farm community are compared with those of residents in an urban community. Multi-stage random sampling is utilized in Denton to select those interviewed. In Krum, each residence was numbered and a table of random numbers was used to select households. Chapter One includes the study's purpose, review of the literature, and statement of the hypothesis. Methodology is discussed in the second chapter. Chapter Three focuses on findings and discussions. Data indicate that in the urban community social class, age, homeownership, and length of residency are related to amount of participation. In the rural non-0farm community social class is related to participation. Residents in the urban community participate more than those in the rural non-farm community.

This paper defines the difference between "cosmopolitans" and "locals" in Denton, Texas, as they relate to the aged black and white communities.

This research project aims to clarify the factors that impact successful aging in Assisted Living facilities (ALFs) in Denton County, Texas. We hypothesize that social disengagement decreases physical and mental components of quality of life. This exploratory research project employed standardized questionnaires to assess residents in the following domains; HRQOL, social engagement status, level of cognition, depression, and the level of functioning. This study collected data from 75 participants living in five ALFs. The average of Physical Component Scale (PCS) and Mental Component Scale (MCS) was 35.33, and 53.62 respectively. None of the participants had five or more social contacts out of facilities, and two-third of them had two or less social contacts. On average, those participants who were more socially engaged had higher score of MCS compared with disengaged counterparts. The level of physical function significantly affects social engagement, when people with more disabilities are more likely to be socially disengaged. Social engagement and depression significantly impact MCS, when depression is a mediating factor between social engagement and mental component of quality of life. Considering the expansion in aging population in the United States within the next three decades, the demand for high quality long-term care will skyrocket consequently. …

The primary purpose of this thesis is a description of some of the major changes which the population of Texas has undergone, particularly in the first half of the twentieth century. Other approaches are possible. For example, it is both possible and important to develop the relationship of population change to social problems. However, it is not the purpose of this thesis to investigate these relationships. It is the purpose here to view the population problem in almost entirely a factual sense, basing observations and interpretations on strictly demographic data.

Since mental illness has legal as well as medical aspects, it is the purpose of this thesis to consider one part of the relationship between the courts, the mentally ill person, and the state hospital. This part is concerned with the problem of how mentally ill persons are selected and committed by legal proceedings in the state of Texas for treatment in a mental hospital. This paper is concerned with the problem of how mentally ill persons are selected and committed by legal proceedings in the state of Texas for treatment in a mental hospital.

This study is concerned with drug knowledge and drug abuse attitudes of a sample of pre-adolescent schoolchildren, 90 from an urban community and 204 from two rural communities. The seven hypotheses tested compared drug knowledge levels and drug abuse attitudes with the variables of community of residence, sources of information, racial identity, acquaintance with drug users, and church affiliation. High levels of drug knowledge were found to be related to rural residence, perceived parental disapproval of drug use, frequency of church attendance, and, to a minor degree, to acquaintance with peer group drug users. The sample held negative views of drug abuse and intolerant drug attitudes correlated significantly with rural residence, parental interest in talking about drugs, church affiliation, and frequency of church attendance. High drug knowledge levels and intolerant drug abuse attitudes were related to only the .20 level of significance.

This investigation concerns the problem of current health care utilization by aged blacks. Utilizing Andersen's model, the volume and pattern of physician utilization associated with selected predisposing, enabling, and need variables is described for an aged population of 163 interviewed blacks residing in Census Tract 212, Denton, Texas, in 1972. None of the six socio-demographic, economic, or health status variables analyzed, through use of Somers' dyx, allowed substantial reduction .of error in predicting a physician visit in the past year. Representing need, selfrated health status was the best predictor variable. Its proportional reduction in error increased from 17 percent to 30 percent, for those with five to seven years education, and to 23 percent, for those reporting the least income.

This study examines interrelationships between Chinese students' associations with each other, with American friends, and their identification with American society. Fifty-three randomly-selected Chinese students at North Texas State University were interviewed in May, 1974. The resulting data was tested by Chi-square and Gamma tests. The finding are an follows In the United States, Chinese students are in a dynamic adjustment process. In their early stay, Chinese students with high scores of a affiliation with Americans have low scores of identification with American society. However, affiliation with other Chinese brings satisfaction and further identification. Therefore, Chinese students with high scores of affiliation with each other have high scores of identification with Americans.

Abstract: The civic life-styles typology of Charles Adrian and Oliver Williams was tested as to its theoretical utility in explaining empirical patterns of civic life-style items, and its comparability to other forms of urban behavior. The data are from a 1970 survey of 3,025 families by the City of Dallas, Texas. An exploratory factor analysis was done on civic life-style items. The factor index scores were used as dependent variables, and demographic and associational items were independent variables in a step-wise regression analysis. Only two of ten factors were found to be civic lifestyles; both were interpretable using the Adrian and Williams typology. Civic life-style behavior was found to be similar to other patterns of differential participation in urban structures.

One hundred American teenagers and 84 Israeli teenagers were interviewed by open-ended questionnaires in order to study their attitudes toward death, holding variables like religion, socio-economic status, and education constant. All the respondents are Jewish, members of a youth movement, high school students, and are fifteen to sixteen years old. The results show a strong tendency to avoid discussions and thoughts about death, more so by the Israelis. Death is strongly feared and associated with war and car accidents, more so by the Israelis. Americans associate army service with death. Death is generally viewed as physical and spiritual cessation of life. The avoidance approach and fear of death that were found suggest the need to offer special courses on man and death in high schools.

"The purpose of this study is to describe the differential perception of poverty and upper income areas in Dallas. Groups of students with contrasting socioeconomic backgrounds were included in the study. Their perceptions were analyzed as a function of their socieconomic backgrounds...A map of the city using postal zone divisions and some census tract divisions was constructed. Definitions of poverty and upper income areas were established on the basis of U.S. Census data and statistics from the State Welfare Department in Dallas. Students from a North Dallas prepatory school and a poverty area high school were asked to mark maps to show locations of areas of poverty and wealth...The study concludes that prep school students show both local and cosmopolitan orientations to the city of Dallas, while poverty area students are most aware of their own neighborhood."-- leaf [1].

The problem of this research was to investigate David Sills' explanation of membership attrition in voluntary associations. Using the membership population of the Dallas Association for Retarded Citizens from 1969 through 1974, a survey was conducted to determine whether the organizational characteristics of bureaucracy, minority rule, and goal displacement are associated with membership attrition in a selected voluntary association. The findings of this study support Sills' ideas about the association of goal displacement and minority rule with membership attrition in voluntary associations. Bureaucratization, however, was not found to be related to membership attrition.

Racial residential segregation in Dallas public housing projects is analyzed before and after the implementation of the "central tenant assignment plan," adopted in May of 1975, Among the socioeconomically segregated population served by public housing, the effects of race and the nondiscrimination policy are investigated using project occupancy data. Indexes of dissimilarity are used to measure racial segregation, and the racial compositions of the communities in which the projects are located are described using 1970 U.S. census and 1976 Dallas City Profile Survey data. The findings indicate that the nondiscrimination policy was not effective in reducing the high levels of racial segregation. A small decline in segregation was noted after a change in project administrative personnel late in 1974.

The purpose of this research was to describe the content of information surrounding a significant sporting event presented by sportswriters through the printed medium. The event chosen for analysis was Superbowl XVI. Three metropolitan newspapers were selected as the sample representatives of the urban style of sports reporting. Two of these newspapers were chosen because of their geographical representation of a participating team. The third selection was taken because of its large circulation and relative unbiased reporting. From a pilot study conducted on Superbowl XV, content categories were found to fit in either one of two basic domains: cognitive or affective. The sample population for Superbowl XVI yielded 5,759 individual category entries based on 215 articles. The cognitive category comprised 94 percent of all items categorized, thus clearly demonstrating the dominant theme used by sportswriters for this event.

This research expands on recent sociological studies which maintain that environmental contaminants in America are disproportionately placed in neighborhoods inhabited by minorities and the poor. Prior studies have focused on the predictor variables which identify areas of contamination near residential neighborhoods, yet fail to explore the socio-political and historical factors which contribute to these phenomena. The Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory 1990 database, the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission's Annual Report of the Hazardous and Solid Waste Program for 1992, and the U.S. Census Bureau's 1990 Census Data for Dallas County were utilized in pinpointing industries violating toxic release standards. Socio-historical data was obtained from government and historical records and reports, books, and newspaper clippings on Dallas County. Maps and data were obtained from the North Central Texas Council of Governments, and the cities of Dallas and Garland. Chapter I discusses the synergetic forces of capitalism, urban growth, uneven development, and settlement patterns resulting in the distribution of environmental contaminants. Chapter II reviews the literature and presents evidence that race and class are strong predictors of where environmental contaminants are located. Chapter III outlines the data and methods employed. Chapter IV traces the historical development of Dallas County. Chapter …

The conflict perspective of criminology and societal reaction to crime suggests that the administration of criminal justice is determined and controlled by those segments of society which are relatively powerful. Based on this perspective, it is reasonable to expect that relatively powerful groups or categories will be far less subject to severe criminal sanctions than will those who are relatively powerless. This proposition may be tested at points in the criminal justice system where decisions are made relative to the application of criminal sanction. The findings are that the relationship between race of offender and sentence length considered both with and without selected control variables is a uniformly weak relationship. In certain categories of control variables the relationship between race of offender and sentence length does strengthen slightly, but in no case are the relationships sufficiently strong to be significant at the .05 level. Partial correlation coefficients show the relationship between race of offender and sentence length to be little affected by the control variables. Therefore, the relationship between race of offender and sentence length is in all cases considered, and by every form of analysis, quite weak. Proportional reduction in error in virtually every case considered in this study …

Parental socialization values are compared over sixty years by using data from the Denton Parent Project collected in 1989 and from similar questions asked of parents in Middletowri in 1924 and 1978, The objectives of the study were as follows: how have parental socialization values changed through time since the 1920s; has the impact of parental social class status on parental socialization values decreased over time; compare Alwin's study on obedience and autonomy to see how trend has changed from 1978 Middletown to 1989 Denton; and, finally, look at certain family structure variables to determine their influence. Today's parents emphasize social acceptance and a sense of social responsibility in child training practice. Social class still has an impact on parental socialization values but not as great as expected.

The primary research questions dealt with whether parents consider different personality characteristics of importance for boys and girls. Data were collected by conducting a telephone survey of a random sample of parents in the city of Denton with children under the age of eighteen living in the household. Respondents were asked whether they considered the personality characteristics of responsibility, strict obedience, being respectful of the opinions of others, showing good manners, being independent, and having loyalty to a religion not important, somewhat important, or very important for boys and girls. Of the respondents fifty-nine were fathers and one hundred and twenty-one were mothers. The analysis of the data revealed that mothers and fathers have similar attitudes concerning the importance of these personality characteristics.

As the need for community care increases, complete and up-to-date information about organizational structure is crucial to making appropriate decisions about the expansion of adult day services. The absence of uniform national policies results in states and communities being relegated to balancing limited funds with the demand for adult day services, and in many areas, the lack of adult day care centers altogether. This study provides an overview of the types of state reimbursement, the availability of different funding sources, and the utilization of the sources in various states.

Using questionnaire survey generated data from the DWI Probation Program in Dallas County. This study investigated the factors related to the perceived effectiveness of that program from the probationers perspectives. The findings in this study indicate that the perceived effectiveness of the DWI program by the probationers is an area that calls for more research and investigations. The findings have shown that factors related to the perceived effectiveness of the program by the probationers have a profound effect on the efficiency of the program as a whole in order to achieve its stated objectives.

This descriptive study of 45 multi-generational families contributes empirical knowledge about grandparent-grandchild relationships. A questionnaire was developed and completed by 74 subjects who were part of a randomly selected sample taken from a tax roll of homeowners over age 65 in Denton County, Texas. The responses provide information which expands the existing data base in the area of grandparenting. The study pinpoints areas in the grandparenting literature which need refinement and contributes data to those areas, rather than producing a set of conclusions. Areas as yet undocumented or inadequately documented in the literature are identified as the following: (a) family structural composition; (b) grandparents' personal characteristics; (c) selected aspects of grandparent-grandchild contact; and (d) satisfaction with the grandparent role. Data for these areas should help reveal factors having an impact on grandparent-grandchild relationships. A base for further investigation in these areas is established, and data are also analyzed to determine satisfaction or lack of satisfaction with grandparenting. The seventy-four subjects, from 45 households, included 44 grandmothers and 30 grandfathers. The number of generations per family was used as the base to report the findings. The study substantiates other research on grandparenting, particularly in the area of timing of grand-parenthood. Data …

From 1970 to 1980 nonadjacent counties in Texas experienced an increase in net migration of 9.4 percent, significantly different from the 11.8 percent decrease experienced the previous decade. This study utilized the ecological perspective to study this redistribution pattern in Texas' nonadjacent counties between 1970 and 1980. Sustenance organization, defined as sustenance differentiation (the functional organization of sustenance activities and the dispersion of workers across these functional categories) and the mode of sustenance organization (the combinations of various sustenance activities) was identified as the primary independent variable. In addition, three secondary independent variables were included in the analysis (population per square mile, metropolitan dominance, and the percent who work outside the county of residence).

The purpose of this study is to test the utility of Talcott Parsons' AGIL Model, i.e., Adaptation, Goal Attainment, Integration, and Latency (Pattern Maintenance) in evaluating the program effectiveness of a community mental health center (CMHC). The model provided a conceptual framework for the selection of appropriate variables. The dependent variable in this study is the overall evaluation of the CMHC as measured through the perception of community leaders. Fourteen hypotheses were constructed to identify and test the relationship among the AGIL criteria and the use of a selected set of independent variables. Data for this study were collected from primary and secondary sources. Secondary data were obtained from the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation in Austin and the CMHC center in Eton. Primary data were collected through personal interviews of general community leaders and influential persons in health-related activities in the community. The selected independent variables included the scope of leadership, the attitude towards this community, socio-economic status, knowledge of the CMHC, and the commitment and involvement in the CMHC. Data indicated that Parsons' criteria for evaluating the CMHC's program were comprehensive and related to each other both positively and negatively. Among the selected independent variables, …