The influence of perception of forgetting and gender, ethnicity, and closeness on likelihood of caregiving

As life expectancy increases, the population of older adults is increasing rapidly. The caregiving of older parents by adult children has become a normative experience. Much of the gerontological literature has examined the caregiving experience, particularly in terms of the stresses involved. However, research is only beginning to examine the factors which motivate adult children to begin caregiving. The research described here examined how an elderly parent's memory behavior might influence caregiving decisions. In addition, gender, ethnicity, and parent-adult child closeness were examined to explore how these individual difference variables might influence those caregiving decisions.^ Participants read one of two vignettes describing a social visit with an elderly widow (target). In the vignette, the elderly target experiences several instances of forgetting. The vignettes depicted forgetting behavior established in pilot work as normal or serious. The normal forgetting vignette did not arouse concern and the serious forgetting vignette did arouse concern when the middle-aged participants imagined their mothers in the role of the vignette target. Participants rated their likelihood of engaging in eight caregiving behaviors if their mothers behaved like the vignette target. They also rated their closeness with their own mothers.^ Multivariate analyses of variance indicated main effects for vignette type, gender, ethnicity, and attachment. The likelihood of caregiving was higher when forgetting was more serious and when participants were female, Hispanic, and were highly attached to their mothers. Interaction effects showed that gender differences decreased with increased seriousness of forgetting, and ethnic differences were only significant for the normal forgetting condition.^ Multiple regression analyses indicated that attachment was the most significant predictor of likelihood of caregiving. Gender and ethnicity predicted specific caregiving behaviors. Females were more likely to engage in phoning and cooking, and Hispanics were more likely to engage in visiting and suggesting mother move in. ^

The relative influence of social support, rehabilitation program participation, and inmate preincarceration characteristics on incarcerated substance abusers' perceptions of adjustment to community reintegration

This dissertation identifies, examines, and assesses the relative influence of identified empirically and conceptually relevant variables on incarcerated substance abusers' expectations of postrelease adjustment. A purposive sampling procedure was used to recruit 101 male and female substance-abusing offenders participating in prison- and jail-based drug treatment programs in south Florida. A 92-item survey questionnaire was used to collect basic demographic data; measure inmate preincarceration characteristics, social support, and rehabilitation program participation; and record archival data. Regression equations were developed utilizing ten different measures of the participants' expectations of their postrelease adjustment. Two equations yielded statistically significant F ratios; maintaining a stable living and maintaining abstinence. Twenty-two percent of the variance in respondents' expectations of maintaining a stable living was explained by preincarceration characteristics, social support, and rehabilitation program participation (F = 1.89; df = 13,87; p $<$.05). The only significant predictor variable was perception of social support (b = $-$.05; t = $-$3.6; p $<$.001). Twenty-three percent of the variance in respondents' expectations of maintaining abstinence from substances was explained by preincarceration characteristics, social support, and rehabilitation program participation (F = 2; df = 13,87; p $<$.05). Once again, the only significant predictor variable was perception of social support. The results of the analyses indicate that social support was the only important variable for understanding these respondents' efficacy expectations of postrelease abstinence and stable living. The results of this investigation demonstrate the complexity of the social support variable for prisoners, and identify social support as a potential rehabilitative resource for substance-abusing inmates. The results of this investigation underscore the importance of continued, detailed empirical study in order to understand and clarify how social support, efficacy expectations, and actual postrelease performance interrelate for this population of offenders.

A study of moderating influences of adolescent alcohol drinking conditioned by perception of peer alcohol drinking

Despite a long history of prevention efforts and federal laws prohibiting the consumption of alcohol for those below the age of 21 years, underage drinking continues at both a high prevalence rate and high incidence rate. The purpose of this research study is to explain underage drinking of alcohol conditioned by perception of peer drinking. An acquisition model is conjectured and then a relationship within the model is explained with a national sample of students. From a developmental perspective, drinking alcohol is acquired in a reasonably ordered fashion that reflects the influences over time of the culture, family, and peers. The study measures perceptions of alcohol drinking during early adolescence when alcohol use begins the maintenance phase of the behavior. The correlation between drinking alcohol and perception of classmate drinking can be described via social learning theory. Simultaneously the moderating effects of grade level, gender, and race/ethnicity are used to explain differences between groups. Multilevel logistic regression was used to analyze the relations. The researcher found support for an association between adolescent drinking and perceptions of classmate drinking. Gender and grade level moderated the relation. African-Americans consistently demonstrated less drinking and less perception of classmate drinking than either whites or other students not white nor African-American. The importance of a better understanding of the process of acquiring drinking behaviors is discussed in relation to future research models with longitudinal data. ^

Inter-subjective and transnational racial effects: The role of the United States in the formation and evolution of the collective perception and racial relations in Cuba, 1898–1902

Since the arrival of the first African slaves to Cuba in 1524, the issue of race has had a long-lived presence in the Cuban national discourse. However, despite Cuba’s colonial history, it has often been maintained by some historians that race relations in Cuba were congenial with racism and racial discrimination never existing as deep or widespread in Cuba as in the United States (Cannon, 1983, p. 113). In fact, it has been argued that institutionalized racism was introduced into Cuban society with the first U.S. occupation, during 1898–1902 (Cannon, 1983, p. 113). This study of Cuba investigates the influence of the United States on the development of race relations and racial perceptions in post-independent Cuba, specifically from 1898-1902. These years comprise the time period immediately following the final fight for Cuban Independence, culminating with the Cuban-Spanish-American War and the first U.S. occupation of Cuba. By this time, the Cuban population comprised Africans as well as descendants of Africans, White Spanish people, indigenous Cubans, and offspring of the intermixing of the groups. This research studies whether the United States’ own race relations and racial perceptions influenced the initial conflicting race relations and racial perceptions in early and post-U.S. occupation Cuba. This study uses a collective interpretative framework that incorporates a national level of analysis with a race relations and racial perceptions focus. This framework reaches beyond the traditionally utilized perspectives when interpreting the impact of the United States during and following its intervention in Cuba. Attention is given to the role of the existing social, political climate within the United States as a driving influence of the United States’ involvement with Cuba. This study reveals that emphasis on the role of the United States as critical to the development of Cuba’s race relations and racial perceptions is credible given the extensive involvement of the U.S. in the building of the early Cuban Republic and U.S. structures serving as models for reconstruction. U.S. government formation in Cuba aligned with a governing system reflecting the existing governing codes of the U.S. during that time period.

Development of an instrument to measure high school students' global awareness and attitudes: Looking through the lens of social sciences

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure high school students’ perspectives on global awareness and attitudes toward social issues. The research questions that guided this study were: (a) Can acceptable validity and reliability estimates be established for an instrument developed to measure high schools students' global awareness? (b) Can acceptable validity and reliability estimates be established for an instrument developed to measure high schools students' attitudes towards global social issues? (c) What is the relationship between high school students’ GPA, race/ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, parents’ education, getting the news, reading and listening habits, the number of classes taken in the social sciences, whether they speak a second language, and have experienced living in or visiting other countries, and their perception of global awareness and attitudes toward global social issues. ^ An ex post facto research design was used and the data were collected using a 4-part Likert-type survey. It was administered to 14 schools in the Miami-Dade County, Florida area to 704 students. A factor analysis with an orthogonal varimax rotation was vii used to select the factors that best represented the three constructs – global education, global citizenship, and global workforce. This was done to establish construct validity. Cronbach’s alpha was used to determine the reliability of the instrument. Descriptive statistics and a hierarchical multiple regression were used for the demographics to establish their relationship, if any, to the findings. ^ Key findings of the study were that reliable and valid estimates can be developed for the instrument. The multiple regression analysis for model 1 and 2 accounted for a variance of 3% and 5% for self-perceptions of global awareness (factor 1). The regression model also accounted for a 5% and 13% variance in the two models for attitudes toward global social issues (factor 2). The demographics that were statistically significant were: ethnicity, gender, SES, parents’ education, listening to music, getting the news, speaking a second language, GPA, classes taken in the social sciences, and visiting other countries. An important finding for the study was those attending public schools (as opposed to private schools) had more positive attitudes towards global social issues (factor 2) The statistics indicated that these students had taken history, economics, and social studies – a curriculum infused with global perspectives.^

The role of contingency and gaze direction in the emergence of social referencing

The current study assessed the importance of infant detection of contingency and head and eye gaze direction in the emergence of social referencing. Five- to six-month-old infants' detection of affect-object relations and subsequent manual preferences for objects paired with positive expressions were assessed. In particular, the role of contingency between toys' movements and an actress's emotional expressions as well as the role of gaze direction toward the toys' location were examined. Infants were habituated to alternating films of two toys each paired with an actress's affective expression (happy and fearful) under contingent or noncontingent and gaze congruent or gaze incongruent conditions. Results indicated that gaze congruence and contingency between toys' movements and a person's affective expressions were important for infant perception of affect-object relations. Furthermore, infant perception of the relation between affective expressions and toys translated to their manual preferences for the 3-dimensional toys. Infants who received contingent affective responses to the movements of the toys spent more time touching the toy that was previously paired with the positive expression. These findings demonstrate the role of contingency and gaze direction in the emergence of social referencing in the first half year of life.^

A View of Faculty Library Use and Perception From an Organizational Culture Lens

This study investigated faculty library demand from an organizational culture perspective at one college where annual requests for library instruction are received from a mere six percent of faculty. Analysis of survey data revealed a statistically significant difference in academic discipline assignment of library research, with the English-Humanities faculty group far exceeding all other faculty groups including the Social Sciences.

Relation of health related hardiness to health perception and psychosocial adaptation in adult hispanics with chronic hepatitis C

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of hardiness in health perception and psychosocial adaptation in adult hispanics with chronic hepatitis C (n = 32). The Health Related Hardiness Scale and the Psychosocial Adaptation to Illness Scale were administered to 32 adult hispanics diagnosed with chronic heptitis C at a gastroenterology center. The results indicate that a comparison of subjects with low and high hardiness scores did not reveal significant differences on any of the PAIS domains (health care orientation, sexual relationships, psychological distress, vocational, domestic and social environments). Furthermore, hardiness subscales of control and committment did not have any influence on patient's psychosocial adaptation nor in its domains. However, a comparison of subjects with low and high challenge scores indicates that those with low challenge had lower total psychosocial adaptation scores (M = 5.55, SD = 2.13) than subjects with high challenge scores (M = 4.24, SD = .67) ,t = (1, 30) = 2.34, p < 0.05. Differences were also found for the domains of health care orientation, psychological distress, social and vocational environment. Lastly, there were significant differences on perceived health rating (poor, fair, and good) for the total hardiness score (F = (2,29) =5.49, p < 0.05), control (F =(2,29) = 4.09, p < 0.05), committment (F=(2,29) = 3.76, p < 0.05) and challenge (F=(2,29)= 4.92, p < 0.05). Thus, those patients who rated their health as poor had lower hardiness levels. Findings have implications for promoting hardiness for better health perception and in certain aspects of psychosocial adaptations in adult hispanics with chronic hepatitis C.