Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Breaking The Silence: Learning About Youth Sexual And Reproductive Health In Egypt, Nahla G. Abdel-Tawab, Sally Saher, Nora El Nawawi

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This collection of research (supported by the Ford Foundation office in Cairo) documents the Population Council’s efforts to build the capacity of young Egyptian researchers to study youth sexual and reproductive health. Understanding the needs of young Egyptians, including their sexual and reproductive health needs, is crucial for developing policies and programs that can help bring about desired changes and improve their health and well-being. Young people must be given accurate information and access to services to protect their sexual and reproductive health and to prepare them for taking on family responsibilities as they get older. This report sets the …

Financial Inclusion Of Female Garment Workers, Sigma Ainul, Md. Irfan Hossain, Sajeda Amin, Ubaidur Rob

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Since the 1980s rapid growth in the manufacturing of ready-made garments for export has created new opportunities for women industrial workers in Bangladesh. This study explores ways of improving the financial capabilities of these young, inexperienced wage earners through a targeted program of financial education. It also aims to identify scalable financing models that can be replicated to increase the opportunities of garment workers. The project culminated in a workshop to share results from the research study and to elicit discussions and recommendations based on the findings of the study. Recommendations include a preference for in-factory training in peri-urban areas, …

The Contracting World Of Girls At Puberty: Violence And Gender-Divergent Access To The Public Sphere Among Adolescents In South Africa, Kelly Hallman, Nora Kenworthy, Judith A. Diers, Nick Swan, Bashi Devnarain

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This Population Council working paper describes a participatory mapping project undertaken with single-sex groups of grade 5 and grade 8–9 children in urban and rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. At grade 5, female self-defined community areas were equal to or larger in size than those of males in both sites. However, wide gender divergence in access to the public sphere was found among grade 8–9 children. Although curtailed spatial access, especially in urban areas, is intended to protect post-pubescent girls, grade 8–9 girls reported most spaces in their small navigable areas unsafe. Reducing girls’ access to the public sphere does not …

Capturing The Demographic Dividend In Pakistan, Zeba Sathar, Rabbi Royan, John Bongaarts

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Pakistan’s demographic profile is changing: fertility is slowly decreasing, and people are living longer. If Pakistan succeeds in strengthening education and bringing the full panoply of reproductive rights and reproductive health services to women, it will have taken two important steps in transforming demographic change into poverty reduction and better lives for the great majority of Pakistanis. If it also takes other policy actions that can spur productive employment and investment, positive outcomes are all the more likely. This book brings together many ideas that have been discussed for some time in Pakistan and around the world, including extensive development …

Fp2020: A Research Roadmap, Population Council

Reproductive Health

The global community came together in July 2012 in pursuit of an ambitious yet essential goal: ensuring that 120 million additional women and girls have access to effective family planning information and services by 2020. National governments, civil society, and the private sector resolved to tackle the numerous supply and demand barriers that prevent many women from using contraceptives. Donors committed $2.6 billion in new funding to support these efforts, matched by pledges from many developing-country governments. To reap the benefits of family planning, clients must have easy access to a wide range of affordable contraceptive methods through multiple service …

Insights Into Unmet Need In Kenya, Kazuyo Machiyama, John C. Cleland

Reproductive Health

Results from this study demonstrate that most women having unmet need for family planning in Kenya were aware of the two main contraceptive methods and a supply source, but many of the poorest, least educated women and those living in North Eastern Province were disadvantaged in this regard. Targeted expansion of access/information is a priority to meet the need of the disadvantaged populations. Kenya has one of the longest records of successful family planning programs in Africa, but this report has revealed some major defects, in particular excess reliance on two hormonal methods. Major future progress may well depend on …

The Adolescent Girls Vulnerability Index: Guiding Strategic Investment In Uganda, Sajeda Amin, Karen Austrian, Michelle Chau, Kimberly Glazer, Eric P. Green, David Stewart, Marie Stoner

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Adolescence (from the ages of 10 to 19 years) is a critical stage of human development during which children experience rapid social, physical, psychological, and emotional changes on the path from childhood to adulthood. The decisions that are made during this period of life affect not only the individual well-being of young people, but also the well-being of the entire society. The Adolescent Girls Multilevel Vulnerability Index (AGI) was developed based on a growing recognition of the need to channel resources to vital—yet highly vulnerable and vastly underserved—populations of adolescent girls in Uganda specifically, and the East and Southern Africa …

Actions, Practices, And Workplace Conditions That Characterize High-Engagement Workgroups In A Hospital Environment, Barbette Weimer-Elder

Dissertations

In the United States a large number of people are not engaged at work. The lack of engagement affects the service outcomes as well as financial bottom line of organizations. The cost of actively disengaged employees in the U.S. is about $300 billion a year. Research cites the importance of examining business units that scored high on employee engagement to learn about actions and practices that drive business outcomes.

Between 2005-2010 The Community Hospital (TCH), part of a Healthcare Corporation in Valley Town, USA (pseudonym), assessed employee engagement using Gallup’s Q12 survey. Some groups scored in the top quartile and …

Financial Education Curriculum For The Adolescent Girls Empowerment Program (Agep), Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Adolescent Girls Empowerment Program (AGEP) in rural and urban Zambia aims to build social, health, and economic assets of adolescent girls. A safe spaces component is at the core of AGEP. Girls groups, under the guidance of a female mentor from the same community, provide a safe and supportive learning environment. The meetings are critical in building social assets for vulnerable girls—including friendships, self-esteem, trusting relationships with adults, and social support. The training content over the course of the year varies from sexual and reproductive health and life skills to financial education and nutrition training. This collection of learning …

The Rally Around The Flag Effect: A Look At Former President George W. Bush And Current President Barack Obama, Jocelyn E. Norman

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

The purpose of my research is to look at how the “rally-round-the-flat effect” affected both former President George W. Bush and current President Barrack Obama and uncover why Obama only benefited from the “rally-round-the-flag effect” once, even though he has dealt with numerous international crises. This research is valuable because it will illustrate how the rally effect affects different presidents and uncover the outside factors that caused Obama’s approval ratings to remain stagnant during time of international crisis. In addition, it will hopefully disprove the notion that crisis or war automatically increases the popularity of a President.

Guide To The New Agenda: Northeast Records, 1977-Current, Orson Kingsley

Archives & Special Collections Finding Aids

The New Agenda: Northeast was co-founded in the Spring of 1987 by Mary Lydon, President of the Massachusetts Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance; Mary Pratt, Past Vice President of the Division for Girls’ and Women’s Sport for the Massachusetts Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance; and Mark Colon, Education Director for the New England Sports Museum. It was based upon the national New Agenda, established in 1984 through the efforts and leadership of the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport, an Association of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance. …

Testing Misconceptions And Building Excitement In A Psychology And The Law Course, Emily Stark

Psychology Department Publications

Did you know that there is no evidence that verifies that each person's fingerprints are truly unique, or that even trained dental examiners cannot accurately match bite marks to the teeth of a suspect? Thinking about our misconceptions can make us excited to learn more about a topic, so that we understand why we were wrong. This article discusses a method that I developed to address misconceptions about psychology and the legal system and to get students excited to learn more about these topics.

School Psychology Crossroads In America: Discrepancies Between Actual And Preferred Discrete Practices And Barriers To Preferred Practice, Kevin J. Filter, Sara Ann Ebsen, Rebecca Dibos

Psychology Department Publications

A nationally representative sample of American school psychology practitioners were surveyed to analyze discrepancies that they experience between their actual discrete practices and their preferred discrete practices relative to several domains of practice including assessment, intervention, meetings, and continuing education. Discrepancies were also analyzed relative to service delivery in three levels of prevention (primary, secondary, and tertiary). Results indicate that practicing school psychologists experience significant discrepancies between actual and preferred practices in all discrete practices, with the largest discrepancies by hours noted in the discrete practices of report writing, prevention screening, CBA/CBM administration, IQ testing, and conducting research. Respondents also …

The Multi-State Learning Collaborative Storyboards: Quality Improvement Lessons Learned From 162 Projects, Leslie M. Beitsch, Anooj Pattnaik, Kusuma Madamala

Florida Public Health Review

The Multi-state Learning Collaborative (MLC) brought health departments in 16 states together with public health system partners to prepare for national voluntary accreditation and to implement quality-improvement (QI) practices. Data from each of the MLC participating states were collected through a comprehensive process over three years. An Excel database of several hundred pages was derived, categorized by individual target area, and organized into thematic domains for further study. Available data were culled and compiled for each MLC project and synthesized across MLC target areas. Two-hundred thirty-four health departments participated in 162 mini-collaboratives in nine of ten target areas. Public health …

Retiree Out-Of-Pocket Healthcare Spending: A Study Of Consumer Expectations And Policy Implications, Allison K. Hoffman, Howell E. Jackson

All Faculty Scholarship

Even though most American retirees benefit from Medicare coverage, a mounting body of research predicts that many will face large and increasing out-of-pocket expenditures for healthcare costs in retirement and that many already struggle to finance these costs. It is unclear, however, whether the general population understands the likely magnitude of these out-of-pocket expenditures well enough to plan for them effectively. This study is the first comprehensive examination of Americans’ expectations regarding their out-of-pocket spending on healthcare in retirement. We surveyed over 1700 near retirees and retirees to assess their expectations regarding their own spending and then compared their responses …

Poor Face A Public Policy Challenge: A Commentary, Roy W. Bahl

ECON Publications

No abstract provided.

An International Perspective On The Determinants Of Local Government Fragmentation, Juan Luis Gomez-Reino, Jorge Martinez-Vazquez

ECON Publications

No abstract provided.

Coping With Rising Inequality In Asia: How Effective Are Fiscal Policies, Iris Claus, Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, Violeta Vulovic

ECON Publications

This paper discusses the role and effectiveness of redistributive fiscal policies and provides estimates of the effects of taxation and government expenditure on income inequality in Asia. Tax systems around the world tend to be progressive, but government expenditure is generally found to be a more effective tool for redistributing income. In Asia, government spending on social protection has a distinctive differential distributive impact. Social protection spending appears to increase income inequality in Asia, whereas it reduces it in the rest of the world. Government expenditure on housing is also adversely affecting the distribution of income in Asia. Policy options …

Do Companies View Bribes As A Tax? Evidence On The Tradeoff Between Corporate Taxes And Corruption In The Location Of Fdi, Timothy Goodspeed, Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, Li Zhang

ECON Publications

No abstract provided.

Measuring The Extent Of Fiscal Decentralisation: An Application To The United States, Yongzheng Liu, Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, Andrey Timofeev

ECON Publications

The goal of this chapter is to develop a taxonomy of decentralisation measures and how they are related to each other. In addition to introducing a common language for the different strands of literature, this taxonomy is instrumental for studying the outcomes of decentralisation. Using cross-state data from the United States, we show that aggregating distinct dimensions of fiscal decentralisation into a single indicator inevitably leads to a loss of information in the form of lower explanatory power. We conclude that the distinct aspects of decentralisation should enter regression analyses separately, in the most flexible functional form possible. In particular, …

Heuristics: Bias Vs. Smart Instrument. An Exploration Of The Hot Hand, Jehangir Cooper

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Classical perspectives on judgment and rationality view heuristics as erroneous, leading to suboptimal judgments. Conversely, ecological perspectives view heuristics as smart mechanisms that result in good judgments in the face of uncertainty. Our research focused on the hot hand heuristic and examined it using non-linear analysis methods. This research attempted to answer two questions. The first question concerned the applicability of frequency analysis methods for detecting constraints (such as the hot hand) or structure in a time series of binary data, which we attempted to investigate through Monte Carlo simulations. We found that this method was sensitive enough to detect …

The Influence Of Perspective And Communicative Goals On How Speakers Choose To Refer, Daniel J. Grodner, R. M. Adler

Psychology Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

The Little Brother Syndrome And Nuclear Proliferation, An Exploratory Analysis Of Pakistan And North Korea's Risk Prone Policies, Richard Ellis Hebblethwaite

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The successful pursuit of nuclear weapons technology by Pakistani and North Korean leaders has fundamentally shifted the post war nuclear paradigm that established the monopoly of five nuclear powers over nuclear weapons and supplies of fissile materials under the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT). How does one explain the daring nuclear pursuit of Pakistan and North Korea and their success in achieving this capability? Numerous theories have tried to explain both the rationale and the causal factor(s) for nuclear proliferation and specifically nuclear arms. While realism and neo-realism concentrate on the fear of the unknown; i.e., the international system and military power …

Democratic Peace Theory As Applied To Europe And The Middle East, Patrick G. Rear

Global Tides

Peace has been the goal of many leaders throughout history, and recent democratic movements in the Middle East have made the first steps toward a democratic peace in the region. This paper compares the European experience of Germany and France in the transition to democracy with the recent developments in the Middle East through November 2012. The impact of democratic revolution in Egypt is compared with the government established in Iraq following the U.S. invasion. Already, notable changes can be seen in the bilateral relations between Egypt and Israel, and between Iraq and Iran, which this paper attempts to evaluate …

The Impact Of Group Personality Characteristics On Group Decision-Making, Kevin Shawn Bottomley

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine (1) how group information sharing impact group decision effectiveness, (2) how group personality composition impact group information sharing, and (3) how group personality composition impact group decision effectiveness. The data collected was FIRO-B® scores on the expressed scale, group information sharing data as measured by the Process and Issues Questionnaire (PIQ), and group decision effectiveness data as measured by the PIQ. Correlation analysis were performed to analyze the group psychological characteristics (H₂, H₃, & H₄,) based on an index created for each group where the data …

Understanding The Behavior And Attitude Of Professional Athletes In Saudi Arabia Toward Dietary Supplements, Sulaiman O. Aljaloud

Dissertations

A dietary supplement is defined as a product taken orally that contains a "dietary ingredient" (vitamins, minerals, herbs, amino acids, enzymes, etc.), and is intended to supplement one's diet. Dietary supplements include plant extracts and concentrates from foods. Supplements help provide required nutrients to fulfill nutritional levels for daily training or competitive performance, and can help remedy nutritional deficiencies. Therefore, it is important that sports professionals have a thorough knowledge of these supplement products. However, athletes need to be informed about the use and possible benefits, side effects, and risks associated with the use of dietary supplements. Four objectives guided …

Planning A Reading And Discussion Series In An Academic Library, Rebecca Arzola

Publications and Research

Planning a reading series for an academic library takes an initial investment of time, energy and attention to detail. When you consider all the elements involved with planning and executing a reading, the initial investment of time and effort to devise a smoothly run event series is well worth the results. It can be as creative a venture as you have time for. Do what is comfortable for you

The Role Of World Knowledge And Episodic Memory In Scripted Narratives, Micah L. Mumper

Psychology Honors Projects

Readers recruit information from both general world knowledge and episodic memory during reading comprehension. The present experiment used eye tracking to investigate the time-course of how these two sources of memory interact. Participants read passages describing scenarios in which an actor performs a role that was either scriptually appropriate or inappropriate. Half the passages containing the inappropriate role-filler were preceded by an episodic justification for this scriptural violation. Using the same paradigm, Cook and Myers (2004) found context had an early influence on the integration of the role-filler, but world knowledge showed a later effect in the post-target region. The …

Resilience Education, Jane Gillham, R. M. Abenavoli, S. M. Brunwasser, M. Linkins, K. J. Reivich, M. E. P. Seligman

Psychology Faculty Works

As a primary learning and social environment for most children, schools have tremendous potential to, and responsibility for, promoting resilience and well-being in children. This chapter reviews the rationale for focusing on resilience in education and illustrates some of the ways that schools can promote resilience in young people. Although resilience education can also encompass academic or educational resilience, the authors focus primarily on the power of schools to promote students’ social and emotional well-being and provide examples from their team’s work on school-based resilience and positive psychology interventions. As they hope to show, resilience education holds great promise in …

Short Communication: Powerless And Jobless? Comparing The Effects Of Powerless Speech And Speech Disorders On An Applicant’S Employability, Christian M. End, Katherine Saunders

Faculty Scholarship

The present study examines the impact of a speech disorder (a lateral lisp) and powerless speech on an applicant’s hireability. College students (N = 113) reviewed an applicant’s resume, as well as a description of two occupations/job openings that varied in regard to necessitating speech. Participants listened to one of three interviews (speech disorder vs. powerless speech vs. control), indicated their willingness to hire the applicant, and then completed hire-ability and employability scales for both positions, as well as an impressions ratings form. Contrary to the hypotheses, few differences between the “employers” responses to the control and speech disorder applicants …