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Grief--the reaction to a significant loss--is a near-universal human experience, from which a subset of grievers (10%-15%) have difficulty recovering, placing them at high risk for negative health and ...
Citation Citation
- Title:
- Preservice counselors' initial perceptions of client grief style : an analogue study
- Author:
- Beckett, L. Catherine
Grief--the reaction to a significant loss--is a near-universal human experience, from which a subset of grievers (10%-15%) have difficulty recovering, placing them at high risk for negative health and mental health outcomes (Marks, Jun, & Song, 2007). For those showing substantial distress, counseling has been shown to be an effective intervention (Boerner, Wortman, & Bonnano, 2005; Parkes, 1971). In 2000, Martin and Doka introduced a continuum of adaptive grieving styles, from intuitive (affectively focused) grief to instrumental (cognitively or behaviorally focused) grief. We know that counseling outcomes can be affected by perceptions and biases that counselors have toward clients (Luborsky, Auerbach, Chandler, Cohen, & Bachrach, 1971); however, we do not know whether a counselor’s perception of a client at the start of treatment is impacted by the client’s grief style. The objective of this study is to determine the influence of client grief style on initial counselor perceptions of the client. Utilizing an analogue design, this study explored how client grief style impacted counselors’ clinically related judgments following the viewing of an analogue of an initial counseling interview. Three professional actors were used to create videotapes of three different grief scenarios (bereavement, divorce, and pregnancy loss), with each actor portraying both an intuitive and an instrumental version of each scenario. The client’s grief style was manipulated by alterations in language and affective presentation in a three-by-two design that held the facts of the clinical scenarios, as well as all other aspects of the videotapes, constant. One version of each of the three scenarios (three video clips in all) was shown to a total of 99 preservice counselors in six CACREP-accredited master’s in counseling programs. There were three directional hypotheses developed based upon the extant research literature: (a) counselors would rate the global functioning of intuitive grievers higher than the global functioning of instrumental grievers; (b) counselors will rate their expectations of the therapeutic bond with intuitive grievers higher than their expectations of the therapeutic bond with instrumental grievers; and (c) counselors would be more likely to encourage emotional catharsis among instrumental grievers. Results supported the second hypothesis but not the first and third. Indeed, for the first and third hypotheses, there were significant differences found in the opposite direction. Counselors rated instrumental grievers as higher functioning than intuitive grievers (the opposite of Hypothesis 1), and the likelihood that counselors would encourage emotional catharsis was higher for intuitive grievers (the opposite of Hypothesis 3). Of particular clinical and educational importance was the finding that 66% of participants reported they would encourage emotional catharsis “often,” “very often,” or “always” in treatment with instrumental grievers, an approach that may be contraindicated for this group.
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Concern regarding the large numbers of personal bankruptcies in Oregon prompted this study. Although information was available from a few studies in other parts of the United States, none was available ...
Citation Citation
- Title:
- Selected characteristics of personal bankruptcy petitioners in Portland, Oregon
- Author:
- Matsen, Shirley Suzanne
Concern regarding the large numbers of personal bankruptcies in Oregon prompted this study. Although information was available from a few studies in other parts of the United States, none was available for Oregon. Very little data has been collected on personal and family characteristics of people filing bankruptcy and less has been collected through personal interviews with the petitioners. The two major objectives of this study were (1) to obtain data about certain personal and family characteristics of a sample of Oregon personal bankruptcy petitioners through the use of an interview questionnaire and to attempt to determine if they were related to financial characteristics obtained from official bankruptcy petitions and (2) to compare selected socioeconomic characteristics of the sample with Oregon and United States general population characteristics. An interview questionnaire was administered to 50 personal bankruptcy petitioners immediately following the first creditor hearing for each case in the bankruptcy court in Portland, Oregon in February 1966. Other data were secured from the bankruptcy petitions. The study required cooperation of the Federal Referees in Bankruptcy, attorneys handling each case and the petitioners themselves. Personal and family information obtained from the petitioner questionnaire included: sex; age class; occupation classification; employment status; marital status; length of time married; length of time divorced or separated; number of times petitioner had married; age class of spouse; family size; number of children; stage in family life cycle; employment status of spouse; bankruptcy history; petitioner and spouse education; social class; incidence of threatened and/or actual garnishment; number and type of solutions to financial problems sought before petitioning for bankruptcy; period of highest debt level; reason for highest debt level; number and type of primary reasons for filing bankruptcy petition; type of area in which petitioner lived during first 14 years of life; degree of expressed marital happiness; degree of influence of financial problems on marital happiness; responsibility for bill payment; and degree of expressed husband-wife agreement regarding expenditures. Financial information obtained from bankruptcy petitions filed with the court included income for last available year, total amount of debt, amount and percentage of secured, unsecured and assigned debt and number and percentage of secured, unsecured and assigned creditors. Debts were classified into 23 creditor classifications according to purpose of the debt. Statistical description included frequency distributions, ranges, means and medians. A t-test of significance was run for petitioner characteristics with mean debt and mean income. A multiple correlation using age class, family size, stage in family life cycle, mean income and mean debt was calculated. Results of the study indicated a significant correlation (P = .01) between mean debt and mean income. Among other findings are the following median personal, family and financial characteristics of the petitioners: male, 28 years old, married, two children, child bearing stage of family life cycle, twelfth grade education, semiskilled employee, income for last available year of $4,950 and total debt of $4,831 owed 16.5 creditors. Over 75 percent of the petitioners owed medical and automobile expenses. Findings regarding degree of expressed marital happiness, degree of influence of financial problems on marital happiness and degree of expressed husband-wife agreement regarding expenditures, although not conclusive, suggest trends which indicate the need for further research. Care must be taken not to generalize from the results since reliability and validity have not been established. Suggestions for further research regarding bankruptcy include expansion of interview technique and total sample size, study of financial management practices of bankrupts following bankruptcy release, study of creditor orientation to bankruptcy, a longitudinal study of family structure and personal traits as they relate to financial management.
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Corporate employee volunteer programs are redefining "corporate social responsibility." Community benefits derived from these programs are well documented. However, there is limited research on what internal ...
Citation Citation
- Title:
- The influence of community service volunteer work on perceptions of job satisfaction and organizational commitment among Oregon employees of Pacific Northwest Bell
- Author:
- Stebbins, Sarah J.
Corporate employee volunteer programs are redefining "corporate social responsibility." Community benefits derived from these programs are well documented. However, there is limited research on what internal impact such programs have on the sponsoring corporations. Kast and Rosenzwieg (1978) define "organizational performance" as "effectiveness," "efficiency" and "participant satisfaction." The study focused on the latter of these components. "Job satisfaction" and "organizational commitment" were the dependent variables because of their relationship to "participant satisfaction." The study's purpose was to determine if a relationship existed between community service volunteer work and perceptions of job satisfaction and organizational commitment among Oregon employees of Pacific Northwest Bell (PNB). A random sample of 1,000 Oregon PNB employees received a mail survey with 64.6% of the surveys returned. Respondents were placed into groups according to their volunteer activity: PNB sponsored/non- PNB sponsored, PNB only, non-PNB only and none. A statistically significant relationship was found to exist between community service activity and the two dependent variables. The two groups highest in the dependent variables were involved in PNB sponsored activity. Both null hypotheses failed to be retained. There were significant main effects for both dependent variables by marital status, sex, years with PNB and age. Selected conclusions from the study were: 1. Employees involved in volunteer activity and in particular, corporate sponsored activity, appear to interact positively with the dependent variables. 2. It appears there is a relationship between community service involvement and employee perceptions that the employer encourages participation. 3. Single PNB employees, as a group, are subject to higher rates of turnover than married, divorced or widowed employees. Selected recommendations for further research included: 1. Determine if a causal relationship exists between community service volunteer work and the dependent variables. 2. Examine more closely employee perceptions of employer attitudes towards volunteer work. 3. Replicate this study in a manufacturing corporation. Compare PNB employee community service involvement with employees of a corporation that produces goods rather than providing service.
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84. [Article] Coping resources mediating the relationship between stressful life events and delinquent behavior among adolescents
Stressful events of both major and minor magnitude in the lives of children and adolescents are significantly related to emotional and behavioral problems (Compas, 1987a; Johnson, 1986). It is also apparent, ...Citation Citation
- Title:
- Coping resources mediating the relationship between stressful life events and delinquent behavior among adolescents
- Author:
- Sim, Hee-og
Stressful events of both major and minor magnitude in the lives of children and adolescents are significantly related to emotional and behavioral problems (Compas, 1987a; Johnson, 1986). It is also apparent, however, that this relationship is complicated and that individuals vary greatly in their responses to stress. The purpose of this study was to explore factors that mediate the relationship between negative life events and behavioral problems during adolescence. In this study, it was hypothesized that negative life events would lower personal resources which, in turn, would lower social resources. Adolescents with lower levels of personal and social resources were predicted to have higher levels of delinquent behavior. Data were collected from 217 of the 9th graders in a high school in a coastal community of Oregon. One hundred sixty-one returned completed surveys. The following scales were used; the Divorce Events Schedule for Children (Sandler, Wolchik, Braver, & Fogas, 1986), a shortened form of the Adolescent Perceived Events Scale (Compas, Davis, Forsythe, & Wagner, 1987),; Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965); Desirable and Undesirable Event Locus of Control Scale (Rothbaum, Wolfer, & Visintainer, 1979); Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory (Rosenthal, Gurney, & Moore, 1981); Social Support Scale for Children (Harter, 1986); Delinquency Lifestyle Scale (Ageton & Elliott, 1978). For data analysis, a series of path analyses using regression techniques was used. Results indicated that coping resources mediated the relationship between negative life events and delinquent behavior. A high level of stress was related to lower levels of personal resources. These personal resources were not directly related to more delinquent behavior, however. Rather, they were associated with lower social support and then more delinquent behavior. The findings related to specific personal resources were both consistent and contrary to predictions. Negative life events lowered self-esteem, identity, and autonomy development significantly. Consistent with previous research, adolescents with external locus of control orientation had more delinquent behavior and perceived less social support. Social support was a mediator between negative life events and delinquent behavior, implying the importance of social support from family, school, and peer in preventing delinquent behavior among adolescents.
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Purpose The purpose of this study was two fold: 1) to determine the self concepts of women workers and their relationship to certain personal variables and patterns of work, and 2) to produce basic self ...
Citation Citation
- Title:
- Self concepts of gainfully employed women in two colleges in Washington State
- Author:
- Westrum, Helen J.
Purpose The purpose of this study was two fold: 1) to determine the self concepts of women workers and their relationship to certain personal variables and patterns of work, and 2) to produce basic self concept research. Procedures The subjects selected for this study were the women employed in 1973 at Eastern Washington State College and Central Washington State College. Eastern employed 302 women and Central employed 282 women for a total of 583 subjects. The women worked at a variety of occupations in two different work settings. The women's occupations fell into three major divisions; professional, clerical and service workers. Each student was sent a data gathering packet that consisted of a cover letter, personal data sheet, instruction sheet, Tennessee Self Concept Scale booklet, score sheet and self-addressed-stamped envelope. Of the packets distributed, 378 were useable. The data from the personal data sheets were put on code sheets. The TSCS was mailed to Counselor Recordings and Tests, Nashville, Tennessee for scoring. When the computer print-outs were returned to the researcher, the T scores were matched with the personal data information. The data were then processed by programmed computer to determine if there were significant differences in the marital status, job classification, total length of time worked, length of time held in present position, age and education of the women workers. The data were then processed by programmed calculator and mean scores, as well as the one-way analysis of variance, were determined. Conclusions The statistical findings of this research project offers the following conclusions: 1. Marriage makes a significant difference in the self concepts of the group of working women studied. Married women had the highest self concept scores. Single women had the lowest scores. Divorced or separated women had scores higher than single women. Marriage, even if it was unsuccessful, produced higher self concept scores among the group of women studied. 2. The length of time a woman worked at her present position was directly related to her self concept score. The longer she worked, the more likely her score on the TSCS would be higher. 3. The TSCS mean scores in all the categories, under each hypothesis, showed that the respondents were above the norm of 50. This showed that the group had a positive self concept. Implications In view of the findings and conclusions of this study, the following implications were drawn: 1. Marital status was the most influential factor in forming self concepts of the women studied. Schools and other social institutions would help strengthen the self concepts of all women by encouraging women to think of themselves as individually valuable married or not married. 2. The longer a woman held her present position the better her self concept became. This knowledge would be valuable to all women, as well as employers. It would mean that women who worked in the same position over a long period of time would have the confidence needed for upward job mobility. Persons with a high self concept handle stress better and that would make them more qualified for advancement.
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86. [Article] Influences of tillage system, climate, and soils on the demand for topsoil in northcentral Oregon wheat production
Soil erosion research in the fields of agronomy, soils science and mechanics, agricultural engineering, hydrology, climatology, and other scientific disciplines has economic dimensions. In general, measurable ...Citation Citation
- Title:
- Influences of tillage system, climate, and soils on the demand for topsoil in northcentral Oregon wheat production
- Author:
- Hanrahan, Michael S.
Soil erosion research in the fields of agronomy, soils science and mechanics, agricultural engineering, hydrology, climatology, and other scientific disciplines has economic dimensions. In general, measurable and, at times, significant economic effects are associated with the effects of erosion in the other disciplines. Interactions between climate, soils, hydrology, and tillage practices are incorporated into a stochastic simulation model that considers twenty six combinations of five tillage systems, three initial soil depths, two soil associations, two slope classes, and two annual precipitation levels over one hundred years. The model endogeneously determines stochastic annual soil loss. Yield is a function of varying soil depth and technological advance. The model maximizes the wheat producer's objective, 100-year discounted quasi-rents from wheat production. Cumulative or total rent distributions that derive from alternative tillage systems in the different ecological circumstances are compared under stochastic dominance. In low rainfall, shallow soil areas, annual tillage systems were preferred to fallow ones, while conservation tillage dominated plow tillage. In high rainfall areas, for either shallow or deep soil, conservation tillage dominated plow tillage, while plow tillage dominated no-till. Manipulation of the tillage-associated rent distributions permitted the estimation of value-of-marginal product or willingness to pay curves (ordinary, profit-maximizing, input demand curves) that express the depth of soil as a function of its economic worth. Properties of these curves are discussed. Comparison of expected total returns and marginal returns to topsoil increments under alternative tillage systems in defined ecological circumstances paralleled the stochastic dominance results. Rankings of tillage systems by expected total returns differed between ecological areas and differed from rankings by marginal returns. Regardless of tillage system or ecological circumstances, the economic worth of each added soil increment diminished. The experiment showed that differential rates of soil loss associated with different tillage systems influence the decision to continue using or to initially invest in alternative tillages, and also influence the economically rational wheat producer's willingness to incur costs associated with soil conservation. Total and marginal rents associated with single tillages were found to vary greatly across ecological circumstances. The ability and the willingness to invest in soil conservation were somewhat divorced. This result has significance for soil conservation targeting.
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87. [Article] Rural ceramic production, consumption, and exchange in late classic Oaxaca, Mexico : a view from Yaasuchi
The Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico was home to one of the most intensively-studied archaic states in the New World. Centered at the hilltop city of Monte Albán, the Zapotec State first arose around 500 BC and ...Citation Citation
- Title:
- Rural ceramic production, consumption, and exchange in late classic Oaxaca, Mexico : a view from Yaasuchi
- Author:
- Pink, Jeremias
The Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico was home to one of the most intensively-studied archaic states in the New World. Centered at the hilltop city of Monte Albán, the Zapotec State first arose around 500 BC and eventually encompassed much of the present-day state of Oaxaca. But by the Late Classic (AD 550 - 850), the state began to dissolve from a regional power into a series of autonomous city-states. The organization of the Zapotec economy in the centuries preceding state decline has been alternatively characterized as a state administered system or a commercial market economy, but most work hinges upon a continued assumption of mutual dependence between rural agricultural producers and urban manufacturers of craft goods. Yet little empirical research has focused on the economic behavior of households in rural communities. To address these assumptions, over 300 archaeological ceramics from the rural site of Yaasuchi were submitted for compositional analysis using INAA at the OSU Archaeometry Laboratory in order to establish provenance. These ceramics were drawn from two Late Classic domestic structures, a ceramic-production firing feature, and surface collections taken throughout the site. Together, they provide insight into patterns of production, consumption, and exchange at a small, rural community in Monte Albán’s hinterland. Comparisons of these data to compositional information from a large database of clays and ceramics from throughout the region show that as much as 90% of Yaasuchi ceramics were produced on site and exchanged between households. Of the remaining 10%, one third were produced in communities near Monte Albán while the remainder came from sources closer to Yaasuchi. These results suggest that Yaasuchi households were not dependent on exchange in urban centers for access to ceramics. Nor however, were they divorced from the regional economy. Rather, households employed a range of economic strategies to fulfil domestic needs, including craft production for intra-site and regional exchange. I argue that this pattern of economic behavior is consistent with a view of the Late Classic economy in which the growing autonomy of sub-regional polities resulted in an incompletely integrated, overlapping market network. The structure of this exchange system would have impacted the reliability of markets as both a source of goods and income, discouraging rural participation in regional exchange.
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88. [Article] "We Were Privileged in Oregon": Jessie Laird Brodie and Reproductive Politics, Locally and Transnationally, 1915-1975
This thesis conveys the history of reproductive politics in Oregon through the life of Dr. Jessie Laird Brodie (1898-1990). Brodie was a key figure in this history from the 1930's until the 1970's, mainly ...Citation Citation
- Title:
- "We Were Privileged in Oregon": Jessie Laird Brodie and Reproductive Politics, Locally and Transnationally, 1915-1975
- Author:
- Adams, Sadie Anne
- Year:
- 2012
This thesis conveys the history of reproductive politics in Oregon through the life of Dr. Jessie Laird Brodie (1898-1990). Brodie was a key figure in this history from the 1930's until the 1970's, mainly through the establishment of family planning programs through social and medical channels in Oregon and throughout Latin America. Oregon's reproductive legislation walked a fine line between conservatism and progressivism, but in general supported reproductive healthcare as a whole in comparison to the rest of the United States and Latin America. The state passed controversial contraceptive legislation in 1935 that benefited public health, but also passed eugenic laws, specifically a 1938 marriage bill, that attempted to limit specific population's reproductive control. By the time family planning was solidly rooted in the national and international sociopolitical discourse in the 1960's, due to the advent of the "pill," population control rhetoric, and the Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) Supreme Court decision, eugenic laws were virtually obsolete. Portland's history suggests that leaders in local reproductive politics sought to appeal to a diverse clientele but were restricted to the confines of federal funding mandates, specifically the war on poverty, that were fueled by postwar liberalism in an increasingly global age. The first chapter concentrates on the history of women's health and reproduction in Oregon prior to the 1960's. Dr. Jessie Laird Brodie's experiences with families in poverty during medical school in the 1920's disheartened her and motivated her to seek ways for these women to efficiently and affordably access birth control information. In response to public health concerns, she helped get positive contraception legislation passed in Oregon in the 1930's that set guidelines and restrictions for manufacture of contraceptives. This law was the first of its kind in the country and set a precedent for other states to follow. Brodie also supported a marriage bill in the 1930's that mandated premarital syphilis and psychological testing, in the hopes that it would lead couples to seek contraceptive, or "hygienic," advice from their physicians as efforts to establish a birth control clinic had failed up to this point. The second chapter focuses on Brodie's continued involvement in Oregon in the 1940's and 1950's, a period marked by a high tide of pronatalism in the U.S., and how she took Oregon's vision for women to a national and international level. Locally, she was involved with the E.C. Brown Trust, an organization dedicated to sex education, and was the President for the Pacific Northwest Conference on Family Relations, a group focused on the postwar family adjustments of higher divorce rates and juvenile delinquency. In 1947, Brodie was one of the founding members of the Pan-American Medical Women's Alliance, an organization created to provide a professional arena for women physicians throughout the Americas to discuss problems specific to women and children. Involvement with these groups helped her gain recognition nationally and in the late 1950's she served as President, and then Executive Director, of the American Medical Women's Association. Lastly, the third chapter looks at the establishment and growth of Planned Parenthood Association of Oregon (PPAO) in the 1960's under Brodie's leadership and her foray into the international establishment of family planning programs through the Boston-based Pathfinder Fund, an organization whose mission involved bringing effective reproductive healthcare to developing countries. Brodie acted as Executive Director for PPAO, where she was able to use her medical expertise and connections to bring the new organization credibility and respect throughout Oregon that they lacked before her involvement because the board was mainly comprised of a younger generation on the brink of second-wave feminism and the sexual revolution. In her career with Pathfinder she assessed the needs for family planning in Latin American and Caribbean countries and facilitated the establishment of programs in the region, largely in cooperation with the U.S. federal government and the Population Council. The conclusion offers a brief history of Dr. Brodie's continued involvement in the local and international communities beyond 1975 and the awards she received highlighting her career in the battle for effective healthcare for all women. In short, this thesis argues that legal and rights-based contestations that were prevalent in other regions of the U.S. and throughout the world were not characteristic of Oregon, allowing Brodie and PPAO to bring birth control to the state with relatively limited opposition.
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In this dissertation, I explore how women and men in later life experience the world of dating and the pursuit of new intimate relationships. Although the mortality gap between women and men at older ages ...
Citation Citation
- Title:
- Theorizing age and gender in the pursuit of love in late life
- Author:
- Levaro, Elizabeth Bayler
In this dissertation, I explore how women and men in later life experience the world of dating and the pursuit of new intimate relationships. Although the mortality gap between women and men at older ages is narrowing, as they enter their 70s, 80s, and 90s, there are still at least two unmarried women for every unmarried man. This gender imbalance is due to women's greater longevity and cultural norms based in gender relations that underlie men's preference for younger partners at all ages--and, throughout most of their lives, women's preference for older partners. Viewing the pursuit of new intimate relationships as embedded within intersecting systems of age and gender inequality, my goal was to explore how unmarried heterosexual women and men negotiate the world of dating in late life and how they view themselves and each other as aging men and women. This research focuses on White heterosexual women and men 70 years of age and older who were actively pursuing new dating relationships through personal newspaper ads and Internet dating and matching sites. Positioning the search for new intimate partners within the intersection of age relations and gender relations, I addressed two research questions. First, I sought to understand how unmarried—widowed, divorced, or always single—heterosexual women and men age 70 and older who are actively pursuing new intimate relationships view and describe their experience of the world of late-life dating, their place in it as aging men and women, and the dating partners they encounter. Second, I examined how, as men and women in aging bodies in a culture that devalues both old age and old people, they maintain, negotiate, or construct their sense of manhood and masculinity or womanhood and femininity in the context of dating, romance, and sexual intimacy. This dissertation consists of two studies, both grounded in a constructivist/interpretive paradigm and the thematic analysis of in-depth, semistructured interviews with 24 informants (11 women and 13 men) between the ages of 70 and 92. In the first study, using an intersectional framework of age relations and gender relations, I examined how internalized negative stereotypes of aging in general and one's own aging, in particular, shape the ways in which old men and women position themselves for finding romantic partners and how they manage identity to make themselves attractive romantic partners in an ageist society. Through their personal ads, Internet profiles, posted pictures, and within the interviews themselves, I found that informants both maintained and subverted age and gender expectations. They consistently resisted a self-identity as old by invoking claims and affirmations of neither looking nor acting their chronological age. Simultaneously, they communicated admonitions to potential dating partners that they should not look or act old. Both the men and the women were seeking new romantic partners younger than themselves, with the men's mean lower age 21 years younger and the women's, 10 years younger. In the second study, also grounded in considerations of age relations and gender relations, I examined informants' orientations to sexual activity and the importance of sex in their dating lives. Findings showed that, contrary to ageist stereotypes depicting old people as asexual and earlier research findings that older adults might settle for alternate intimate activities, the majority of the women and men in this study expressed interest in an intimate relationship that includes sex, and most interpreted this to mean penetrative intercourse. Nearly all of the men were sexually active with younger partners, with over half either using or holding samples of drugs for the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED). A far smaller percentage of the women were currently dating or sexually active, and none had experience with partners who required the functional assistance of ED drugs. In conclusion, the informants present a picture of late-life dating in which individuals both consciously and unconsciously submit to, resist, and sometimes defy the structural constraints presented by societal ageism, age relations, and gender relations. The intersecting systems of inequality and oppression that impact these women and men as they pursue new love may seem only to privilege old men, offering them, for instance, advantage in terms of more lenience in showing their age and a broader age range in which to pursue dating partners. As a group, however, the women expressed more satisfaction with their lives and were less driven by the desire for an intimate partner, relishing the independence and autonomy their unattached status allowed them.
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90. [Article] Analysis of selected factors relating to the Neighborhood Youth Corps program in rural counties of Oregon
Purpose of the Study There were two major purposes of this study. The first was to determine which socio-economic and educational factors normally available to Neighborhood Youth Corps personnel were associated ...Citation Citation
- Title:
- Analysis of selected factors relating to the Neighborhood Youth Corps program in rural counties of Oregon
- Author:
- Bigsby, Robert Alexander
Purpose of the Study There were two major purposes of this study. The first was to determine which socio-economic and educational factors normally available to Neighborhood Youth Corps personnel were associated with success and failure in the out-of-school program. The second purpose was to utilize these available socio-economic and educational factors identified as success or failure determiners to construct a mathematical success-failure prediction equation. Procedures Data for 302 enrollees were obtained through a random sampling of terminated out-of-school enrollees. Socio-economic information was extracted from enrollee application forms and files. Educational information was obtained from the last school attended. Stepwise multiple linear regression and classification analyses were performed on data to identify variables contributing most significantly to success or failure. For these analyses, data for enrollees were grouped by marital status, sex, and age. Analyses were performed on separated groups. Variables contributing most significantly to success and failure were utilized to construct an equation for success-failure prediction. Selected Findings 1. A higher proportion of females succeeded in the out-of-school program than did males. Forty-five and one tenth percent of the females succeeded compared to 26.9 percent of the males. 2. Factors affecting success or failure of male enrollees were (a) Enrollee age. Sixteen-year-old male enrollees failed in the program at a rate approximately four times that of older enrollees. (b) Number of siblings in enrollee's family. Male enrollees coming from families with four or more children succeed at a higher rate than enrollees with one, two, or three children. "Only children" failed at a substantially higher rate than others. (c) Highest school grade completed. There was a steady decrease in the failure rate of male enrollees as school grade completed increased. (d) Head of household employment. Single male enrollees living in homes in which the head of household worked part time succeeded at over twice the rate of those living in homes with the head of household working full time. This group also succeeded at a higher rate than those from homes in which the head of household was not working at all. 3. Factors affecting success or failure of female enrollees were: (a) Language spoken in the home. Enrollees speaking Spanish in the home succeeded at a substantially higher rate than those speaking English. (b) Social assistance. Single female enrollees whose families accepted cash welfare payments succeeded at a lower rate than those whose families did not accept welfare. (c) Stated lifetime occupational goal. Single female enrollees stating a skilled lifetime occupational goal succeeded at a higher rate than those stating other lifetime goals. Those stating no lifetime goal or a professional goal failed at a substantially higher rate than others. (d) Family living group. Single female enrollees living with their mothers only succeeded at less than one-half the rate of those living with both parents. (e) Reason for leaving school. Female enrollees who left school for disciplinary reasons failed at a very high rate. (f) Enrollee age. Sixteen-year-old female enrollees tended not to succeed at as high a rate as 17, 18, 19, and 20 year-olds. 4. Accurate prediction of both success and failure was not possible for male enrollees and married or divorced females, 5. It was possible to correctly predict success and failure in the program of single female enrollees approximately 75 percent of the time by employing five socio-economic factors. 6. An equation was developed for predicting success or failure of single female enrollees. The following factors were employed in this prediction: (a) language spoken in home, (b) family living group, (c) reason for leaving school, (d) welfare, (e) lifetime occupational goal.