Degree Discipline

10 Matching Results

Results open in a new window/tab.

AIDS Preventative Behavior Among Taiwanese University Students (open access)

AIDS Preventative Behavior Among Taiwanese University Students

This study used the Health Belief Model to examine the predictors of AIDS preventive behavior. The independent variables were the variables of individual perception, modifying factors (psychological variables), and likelihood variables. The respondents, the Taiwanese students of the University of North Texas, were influenced both by Chinese sexuality and Western values in their AIDS-risk behavior. The results revealed that 90% of the respondents were misinformed on the availability of AIDS vaccine. In addition, a majority of the students were either abstaining from sex or practicing monogamy. Using Pearson's correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis, this study found that the psychological variables rather than cognitive variables significantly influenced the respondents' AIDS preventive behavior. Finally, suggestions were made for future research on AIDS, and for AIDS preventive behavior campaigns.
Date: May 1997
Creator: Wang, Ya-Chien
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Distribution of Environmental Contaminants: a Socio-Historical Study of Selected Neighborhoods in Dallas County, Texas (open access)

The Distribution of Environmental Contaminants: a Socio-Historical Study of Selected Neighborhoods in Dallas County, Texas

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 …
Date: December 1997
Creator: Cutrer, Jennifer G.
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Structural Equation Analysis of Intergenerational Differences in Attitudes toward Individual Modernity in the United Arab Emirates: Implications for Cross-Cultural Research (open access)

A Structural Equation Analysis of Intergenerational Differences in Attitudes toward Individual Modernity in the United Arab Emirates: Implications for Cross-Cultural Research

It has been widely believed that modernity is a byproduct of a nuclear family system, a highly urbanized society, and a secular way of life. As such, developing countries are characterized as modern insofar as their social and cultural structures are able to correspond to these criteria. To examine the validity of these propositions, data on two randomly-selected generations--daughters and mothers in the United Arab Emirates--were generated.
Date: May 1997
Creator: Al-Ghazy, Faris M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Factors Associated with Ageism: A Survey of College Students (open access)

Factors Associated with Ageism: A Survey of College Students

The primary question addressed was, "What effect does educational attainment and acquired knowledge of ageing have on negative ageism?" Subsidiary questions are, "What effect does; age, sex, and positive/negative experiences with aged individuals, have on ageism?"
Date: May 1997
Creator: Nation, Patricia Ann Campo
System: The UNT Digital Library
Comparison of Reasons for University Attendance Between Traditional and Non-Traditional Female Students (open access)

Comparison of Reasons for University Attendance Between Traditional and Non-Traditional Female Students

The aim of this study was to identify the characteristics of non-traditional female students and their perceived reasons for university studies.
Date: May 1997
Creator: Sparkman, Lila Gillis
System: The UNT Digital Library
Contraceptive Choice among American Teenage Women: a Test of Two Models Based on the Dryfoos Strategy (open access)

Contraceptive Choice among American Teenage Women: a Test of Two Models Based on the Dryfoos Strategy

Teenage pregnancy rates in the U.S. are among the highest in the world for industrialized countries. The generally accepted reason is not that American teenagers are more sexually active but that they contracept less than do teenagers in other industrialized countries. This dissertation reports on a study that was undertaken for two purposes. One purpose was to develop and test two models of contraceptive choice among American teenagers: a "likelihood-of-use" model to predict the likelihood of sexually active teenagers' using contraception, and a "medical-or-nonmedical" model to predict whether teenagers who use contraception are likely to use medical or nonmedical methods. The second purpose was to explore the level of support for the two models among black and white teenagers separately. The theoretical underpinning of the models is value-expectancy theory. The models' exogenous variables are based on the prevailing strategy for preventing teenage pregnancy among American teenagers, a strategy initially advocated by Joy G. Dryfoos. The strategy involves the use of access-to-contraception programs, educational programs, and life options programs. The data used in the study were on 449 subjects drawn from the 1979 National Survey of Young Women, a probability-sample survey of women in the U.S. aged 15-19. The subjects were …
Date: May 1997
Creator: Crow, Thomas Allen
System: The UNT Digital Library
In Loco Parentis: How Social Connections Beyond Families Affect Children's Social Adjustment (open access)

In Loco Parentis: How Social Connections Beyond Families Affect Children's Social Adjustment

This study explored the relationship between characteristics of children's families and their social adjustment and how extra-familial connections affect this relationship. According to human ecological theory, children who are in jeopardy through higher-risk family systems and other social forces were expected to be protected from sociocultural risks by social connections in such settings as school, church, kin groups, and neighborhood.
Date: May 1997
Creator: Davy, Rhett A. (Rhett Arawa)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Emergence of a New Capitalist Ethic: Transformational Leadership and the Civil Society Movement as Emergent Paradigms Affecting Organizational and Societal Transformation (open access)

The Emergence of a New Capitalist Ethic: Transformational Leadership and the Civil Society Movement as Emergent Paradigms Affecting Organizational and Societal Transformation

Rapid and chaotic changes in market environments have caused business organizations to modify their organizational structures and social relationships. This paper examines the change in relationship between management and employees, which is shifting from an adversarial and controlling role to facilitation and employee empowerment. This paper's research question concerns how classical sociological theory would explain power redistribution within organizations and the formation of an associative and collaborative relationship which contradicts traditional paradigms. Traditional bureaucratic and contemporary organizational forms are compared and contrasted. Organizational climate, psycho-social components of underlying assumptions and group ethics are seen to be the mechanisms impelling transformation. Organizational change is driven by an emerging secular ethic. This ethic is embodied in an applied model of leadership and examined as an ideal type. The common ethic impelling organizational change is seen to be the same as that causing social transformation in both national and international spheres.
Date: December 1997
Creator: Cordas, Jon D. (Jon Dmetrius)
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Model of Spring Break Travel among University Students (open access)

A Model of Spring Break Travel among University Students

This study tested a model to predict the likelihood of spring break travel among university students. The data were obtained from a 1996 survey sample of 303 university students.
Date: May 1997
Creator: Pottorff, Susan M. (Susan Marie)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Family Background and Structure of High Academic Achievers (open access)

Family Background and Structure of High Academic Achievers

This study examines the influence of family background and structure on academic achievement. The research focuses on the 11th- and 12th-grade population in the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science (TAMS) at the University of North Texas, Denton. The study examines the variables in family background and family structure that contribute to the students' high academic achievement. Twelve hypotheses related to parents, home environment, family structure and interaction, family roles, and family values are proposed. The multivariate analysis shows that the variables being read to, reading independently, fathers' education, mothers' education, and ethnicity are significant in impacting academic achievement. The study underlines the fact that multiple factors in family structure and background have an influence on academic achievement.
Date: May 1997
Creator: McDaniel, Linda Marie
System: The UNT Digital Library