Browsing by Subject "Ethnicity"
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Item Achievement Patterns Of Students In An Elite, Male Independent School(2009) Trusty, Edward Maurice; Gillett-Karam, Rosemary; Education and Urban Studies; Doctor of EducationThere is an underlying assumption that regardless of student ethnicity, socio-economic status, or any other variable, elite, independent schools by mission and design are effective at producing successful students. This would cause some to conclude that all students enrolled in elite, independent schools perform similarly on all academic measures. The purpose of this study was to determine whether achievement differences exist in one elite, independent school. The researcher gathered data from all tenth (n=98) and eleventh grade (n=107) students enrolled in an elite, male independent school and compared their academic achievement on select variables. Using previous studies as a framework and building upon them, the researcher selected the following seven independent variables: (a) family type, (b) ethnicity, (c) financial aid status, (d) grade entered, (e) year entered, (f) travel time, and (g) the number of varsity letters earned. Grade Point Average, class rank, and performance on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) subtests were the select dependent variables. Using a Stepwise Multiple Linear Regression model for the inferential statistical analysis, the results from the statistical analyses showed that: (a) Students who received financial aid scored lower on all academic achievement variables; (b) Students who earned more varsity letters scored less successfully on academic achievement variables; and (c) Students who enrolled in later years experienced higher academic achievement. Contrary to research in the public arena, ethnicity was not a statistically significant predictor of student academic achievement. Neither family type (whether parents were married or unmarried) nor travel time significantly predicted student academic achievement either. Many institutions primarily define diversity by ethnic or racial composition. In elite, independent schools, diversity is often mislabeled and misinterpreted. Many elite, independent schools would conclude that a certain ethnic group represents their largest minority subgroup; when, in fact, students and families who receive any financial aid represent the single largest cultural minority group in elite, independent schools.Item An Exploratory Study of the Experiences and Perspectives of African-American, Latina/o, Asian-American and European-American Psychology Graduate Students: "Is One of These Things Still Not Like the Others?"(2008-11-06) Wimms, Harriette Ernestine; Maton, Kenneth; Psychology; PsychologyAs the cultural and racial/ethnic landscape of the U.S. continues to change, psychologists from varied cultural backgrounds will be called upon to address issues of equity, diversity, and well-being among the population. Despite decades of initiatives within the field of psychology to increase the numbers of ethnic/racial minorities among its ranks, African-American and Latina/o doctoral students continue to be underrepresented and the numbers of African-American, Latina/o and Asian-American professors in psychology departments continue to be at levels far below those commensurate with their U.S. population representations. However, little is known about the experiences of Black, Latina/o and Asian-American graduate students in psychology. This "mixed-method" qualitative and quantitative research study utilized interview and survey data to examine the graduate psychology student experience among African-American, Latina/o, Asian-American and White students across the United States. Overall, the results reveal similarities in the lived experiences of students of color and White students, and also a number of important areas where distinctive differences are present. Specifically, both qualitative and quantitative findings reveal similarities in why students choose to become psychology students, the encouraging circumstances that help them persist in doctoral programs, and suggestions of means to support future generations of students. Also, a number of important facets of the graduate school experience predicted satisfaction independent of ethnicity. Important areas of difference between students of color and White students (as well as to some extent between the three minority groups) revealed by qualitative and/or quantitative methods include challenges faced, perceptions of cultural diversity within the academic environment, and the perceived relationship between ethnicity and supports, barriers, and future employment aspirations. Additionally, differences between White students and students of color were generally found across perceptions of ethnicity and circumstances of graduate school. The implications of the study findings are related to previous research and an ecological perspective in psychology higher education. Consideration of limitations of the present study, recommendations for future research, and implications for psychology training and the field at large conclude the study.Item Assessment Of Racial And Ethnic Differences In Inferred Energy Expenditure Using Nationally Representative Data(2011) Amen-Ra, Nun; Velasco, Eduardo H.; Public Health and Policy; Doctor of Public HealthNun Sava-Siva Amen-Ra, Dr.PH, December 2011 Dissertation Chair: H. Eduardo Velasco, M.D., M.Sc., Ph.D. Department of Public Health Analysis As assessed by body mass index (BMI) African Americans exhibit higher rates of obesity than Caucasian Americans. Bodyweight is influenced principally by energy intake, voluntary energy expenditure (i.e. exercise) and basal metabolic rate (i.e. resting energy expenditure). Resting energy expenditure is, in turn, influenced by physiological factors that are largely (though not entirely) innate and therefore less amenable to alteration. Existing observational evidence indicates that Blacks exhibit lower resting energy expenditure than Whites. The present study sought to confirm this finding for the first time using nationally representative data. We hypothesized that other ethnicities and multiracial persons would, as a consequence of exhibiting an amalgam of Africoid and Europoid metabolic traits, exhibit an average resting energy expenditure intermediate between Blacks and Whites. We confirmed that Blacks exhibit lower resting energy expenditure than Whites--a difference of approximately 150 to 300 fewer kilocalories per day. This finding was significant in each permutation of our analysis--from the simple association of race and resting energy expenditure to our final regression model adjusted for common confounders (i.e. age, gender, income, and education), body fat content, diabetes, thyroid dysfunction, and weight loss in previous year. Further, we found that energy intake did not differ significantly between Blacks and Whites whereas Blacks were found to expend significantly more energy voluntarily than Whites. Blacks and Whites did not differ significantly in bodyweight, though Blacks were found to be leaner than Whites as evidenced by significantly lower body fat content in the former. Given their relatively low level adiposity, environmental factors such as stress ineluctably emerge as plausible explanatory postulates in disparate disease susceptibility among African Americans. Our findings further suggest that if rates of obesity are to be reduced in African Americans, recommendations would need to encourage lower levels of average energy intake than extant in the general populace and higher levels of activity energy expenditure than extant in the general populace. In short, African Americans would need to adopt more austere lifestyle regimens relative to the general populace in order to reduce their rate of obesity below present levels. Our finding that adiposity (as assessed by X-ray absorptiometry) is significantly lower in Blacks than Whites suggests that conventional classifications of adiposity based on such indirect measures as body mass index may be less applicable in African Americans presumably due to racial/ethnic differences in body composition. Lastly, our findings accord with theories of human evolution which posit that metabolic adaptations to environmental alteration entailing increased energy efficiency were essential to the survival of the human species.Item Chemistry Motivation and Achievement at the Intersection of Gender and Ethnicity(2019-01-01) French, Allison Morgan; Else-Quest, Nicole M; Psychology; PsychologyIn the United States, the STEM workforce faces a diversity problem. Women and people of color remain underrepresented in STEM education and careers (National Science Board, 2018). A possible reason for continued underrepresentation in STEM is student motivation. The current study explores the following two questions: First, how do motivation and achievement in chemistry differ across gender and ethnicity? Second, do gender and ethnicity moderate the links between students? motivation in chemistry and their subsequent achievement in an introductory chemistry course? The current study examines four components of student motivation - perceived competence, interest, attainment value, and utility value - in an introductory chemistry course at a four-year, public university. Participants include n = 200 undergraduate students (50.5% women; 29.5% underrepresented minority students). Results revealed a pattern of gender and ethnic group similarities in student achievement in the course. However, men reported greater perceived competence, but lower utility value for chemistry than women. By contrast, ethnic groups did not differ in chemistry motivation. Motivation predicted achievement in the chemistry course, and this link was not moderated by gender and ethnicity. The current study highlights a need for interventions to boost women'sperceived competence in chemistry.Item Introduction: the stakes of whiteness studies(Wiley Blackwell, 2009-04) Durington, Matthew Slover; Towson University, Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal JusticeAn introduction to a series of essays about racism and whiteness in the U.S. Included are information on anthropology's contribution to critical whiteness studies, the complexity by which whiteness in its various manifestations intersects with other identity formations, the continued strength of anthropological sensibilities in relation to the interrogation of interpretive repertoires of social life and their entanglement with rhetoric/realities of race, and a critique of racism in the U.S.Item The Effects of Home-based Academic and Regulatory Practices on Reading and Mathematics in Early Childhood: Self-Regulation and Executive Functioning as Mediators(2016-01-01) Simons, Cassandra Lynn; Sonnenschein, Susan; Psychology; PsychologyTo succeed academically, children must be able to pay attention, follow instructions, and ignore distractions. These skills require self-regulation and executive functioning. Research shows that parents' home-based practices predict children's self-regulation and executive functioning, as well as their reading and mathematics scores. However, studies have not yet explored whether parenting exerts its influence on children's reading and mathematics skills through its relations with self-regulation and executive functioning. This study investigated the potential mediating roles of self-regulation and executive functioning in the association between a composite of parents' home-based practices and children's reading and mathematics scores in kindergarten. The parenting composite included parent-reported warmth, family routines, and home reading and mathematics activities. Data came from the ECLS-K 2011 and included 14,080 children who were first-time kindergarteners in the fall of 2010. Analyses of parallel multiple mediator models revealed that both self-regulation and executive functioning significantly mediated the relation between parents' home-based practices and children's reading and mathematics scores in kindergarten. In order to explore potential racial/ethnic differences in parents' home-based practices, mean levels of warmth, family routines, and home math and reading activities were compared across Asian, Black, Latino, and White participants. Separate parallel multiple mediator models were conducted in each racial/ethnic group. Results revealed significant racial/ethnic differences in parents' home-based practices. Self-regulation was a significant mediator of the relation between home-based practices and children's mathematics and reading scores in all racial/ethnic groups. Overall, the study demonstrated that although parents' home-based practices differed significantly across racial/ethnic groups, they were consistently related to children's reading and mathematics scores through their relation with self-regulation.Item The Role Of Spirituality And Racial Identity In The Life Stress Process Of African-Americans(2010) Archibald, Paul Clifford; Sydnor, Kim Dobson; Public Health and Policy; Doctor of Public HealthThe mental well-being of individuals is a major public health issue. Mental illness and its impairment exacts both economic and emotional burden on the population, impacting all racial and ethnic groups. However, findings from five community surveys suggest that the mental health issues of African-Americans is the same as, or lower than, those of Whites. This seems at odds with the minority status hypothesis that predicts higher rates of mental disorders for African-Americans due to greater mental illness linked to stress exposures. In understanding this dilemma, studies of race and mental health have historically failed to consider the role of African-American coping capacity in the life stress process. The research has also been limited by small numbers of African Americans, few within group studies, and lack of potential confounders. Using data from National Survey of American Life (NSAL), this current research examined the moderating effect of both spirituality and racial identity on the relationship between stress and depressive symptoms. The sample included N=3,570 African-American United States citizens 18 years or older. A multivariate linear regression approach was used to analyze the data. The findings did not support the hypothesis that spirituality moderates the relationship between depressive symptoms and stress although a direct relationship between spirituality and depressive symptoms was found. The findings did support the hypothesis that racial identity moderates the relationship with a weaker link between stress and depressive symptoms for those with higher scores on the racial identity index even in the presence of social support and sense of control. A key limitation is lack of any ability to make causal inferences as this is a cross-sectional survey. However, it does offer possible insight into the lower than expected levels of depression among African Americans. Additionally, out of the review of the literature, buttressed by the findings of the current study, an emerging theoretical model of a culturally linked stress and coping process was developed. The model should serve as a platform for additional research as well as a vehicle for expanding discussion around measurement of stress and distress; fostering dialogue between the faith-based community and public health.āItem Without A Country: Stateless Armenian Refugees in the U.S.S.R and Russia, 1987-2003(2018-01-01) Lezgiyeva, Sudaba; Brown, Kate; History; Historical StudiesThe focus of this theses is the inter-ethnic conflict in Azerbaijan that led to the exile of Armenian refugees and subsequently their struggle to gain citizenship rights in the newly formed Russian Federation. The political tensions in the Nagorno-Karabakh region were relatively calm until they exploded in late February 1988, leading to an inter-ethnic conflict in Sumgait, Azerbaijan. Almost seven months later, in November 1988, the vigorous unrest intensified in the town of Kirovabad, leading again to the massacre of Armenian minorities. As a result, the pogroms coincided with increased anti-Armenian feelings in the capitol of Azerbaijan, Baku. On January 20th, 1990, pogroms broke out in Baku and continued for seven days, during which the majority of the ethnic Armenian population in Azerbaijan was beaten, tortured, or murdered. Some Armenians managed to flee before the pogroms took place, but many were trapped in the city until Soviet authorities evacuated them. Seeking refuge, many Armenians fled to the capitol of the Soviet Union, Moscow, where they remained in temporary accommodations in hotels and dormitories. In 1991, when the Soviet Union, as an internationalist state, suddenly broke up into smaller national formations, the legal status of internal refugees like the Armenians was left in doubt. The research looks at a significant trend of refugees who fled directly to the capital of the Soviet Union, Moscow as a means for understanding why, while trapped in social and economic circumstances, they were deemed ineligible for citizenship of the newly formed Russian Republic. Armenian refugees in Moscow fell into a legal gap and became effectively stateless, hence, they were not recognized as citizens of any country. The intent of this theses is to emphasize the fact that deprived of citizenship and human dignity, Armenia refugees in Moscow were persecuted because of a growing nationalism, xenophobia and racism in Russia. While focusing on ethnicity policy during the Soviet era and the Russian Federation, I will emphasize the fact that the Soviet government used citizenship to maintain power, whereas officials of the new Russia privileged ethnicity in a new way. In the new Russia, ethnicity was essentialized and became the defining factor for citizenship.