Browsing by Subject "Poverty"
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Item Academically Gifted, Poor African American Male Undergraduates in Engineering: Perceptions of Factors Contributing to Success in a Historically Black College and University and a Predominantly White Institution Context(2012-10-19) Flowers, AlonzoResearch focusing on the academic and social experiences of academically gifted, poor, African American male college students has been limited. Recent findings on college persistence stress the role of institutions of higher education in providing educational opportunities. However, research on academically gifted, poor, African American males indicates that this student population has had limited access to these opportunities. Academically gifted, poor, African American males in higher education encounter social and institutional factors that guide the directionality of their educational experience, particularly in engineering disciplines. This study explores perceptions of academically gifted, poor, African American male undergraduate students engineering as a major disciplines in order to identify factors that contribute to academic and social development. Based on participants' responses, seven categories emerge to identify aspects of the participants' experiences in college: (a) self-perceptions, (b) financial obstacles, (c) engineering as a major, (d) family influence and support, (e) peer relationships, (f) relationships with faculty, and (g) the students' perceptions of the institution. Based on the findings, it was concluded that institutions of higher education must understand the various factors (e.g., peer and faculty support, institutional congruence) that influence the academic and social integration of academically gifted, poor, African American male students. Specifically, these institutions must recognize the importance of family involvement, mentoring, and increased financial support for academically gifted, poor, African American male students.Item An american irony: the story of Mexican immigrant poverty in the land of immigrants(2009-05-15) Garcia, Ginny ElizabethThis dissertation uses data from the 2006 American Community Survey and Decennial Census 2000 to analyze trends and determinants of poverty among Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants in the Southwestern United States. The chapters include: 1) an Introduction; 2) a Literature Review with sub-sections on many issues related to these populations; 3) a discussion of Data and Methods including a section on the Development of a Proxy Variable for Undocumented Status; 4) Results for Mexican Americans (Individual Level); 5) Results for Mexican Immigrants (Individual Level); 6) Multilevel Results; and 7) Conclusions and Future Research Directions. The introduction and literature review will provide a background and overview of the research, as well as the analysis of poverty at the individual and contextual level (i.e. the Super-PUMA level). Data and methods are then discussed relative to all the analyses to be undertaken in the dissertation. In addition, specific emphasis in this chapter will be placed on the methodology pertaining to the development of the undocumented proxy variable. In Chapter IV data are analyzed at the individual level through the use of logistic regression. Special attention is placed on variables pertaining to ethnicity, citizenship status, and years spent in the US, among others, in order to predict the likelihood of Mexican Americans being in extreme poverty, one hundred percent poverty, and low-income. The focus is then narrowed in Chapter V to Mexican immigrants with special attention given to the effect on poverty of undocumented status. In Chapter VI, independent variables at the contextual level are used to predict poverty in conjunction with those used at the individual level; these include the percentage of persons in poverty, concentration of Mexican immigrants, and the relative presence of various industries. The findings confirm that both individual level and contextual level predictors are key in the determination of poverty for Mexican Americans and immigrants. In the conclusion, discussion is given to the fact that many studies have focused on the individual level predictors of poverty; this research goes one step further in that it examines poverty not only with respect to individual predictors, but also group level variables.Item A biosocial perspective on poverty and the early-life origins of mental health : the effects of timing and associated chains of risk(2012-08) McFarland, Michael Jason; Hayward, Mark D.; Umberson, Debra; Crosnoe, Robert; Mirowsky, John; Paige Harden, KathrynThe poor disproportionately bear the burden of diminished mental health. Despite the pronounced prevalence of these iniquitous disparities, researchers lack a comprehensive understanding of their origins and also the requisite knowledge to reduce or eliminate them. Past studies have largely focused on adult precursors and trajectories of change but have largely neglected the early-life origins, timing, and consequent chains of risk associated with mental health. This dissertation examines these elements and also considers the early-life origins of mental health in a novel way by integrating sociological-based frameworks with biosocial ones. More specifically, this dissertation examines the sensitive periods and chains of risk by which mental health problems develop or persist over time and provides clues as to when and how poverty exerts its noxious effect on mental health. This dissertation employs two national datasets: the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to assess these issues. Viewed in tandem these datasets span from approximately ages 0 to 30 and provide an especially apropos opportunity to examine the early-life origins of mental health. This dissertation found five particularly important results. First poverty experienced in infancy had lasting effects on awakening cortisol – a marker of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning. HPA dysregualtion, in turn, is thought to be related to a host of mental health disorders. Second poverty experienced in infancy had a pernicious effect on internalizing and externalizing behaviors in adolescence, net of poverty experienced at other points in time. Third, poverty experienced in adolescence was of particular importance compared to poverty exposure at other ages in shaping mental health in young adulthood. Fourth, poverty experienced during sensitive periods acted as a catalyst that set in motion a number of complex chains of risk that proliferated over time. Fifth there were meaningful gender differences in regards to both timing and chains of risk. Overall, these results underscore the need for both theoretical and empirical models that span from infancy to adulthoodItem Bringing order out of chaos : an examination of continuity and discontinuity in young children's experiences of household and classroom chaos during early childhood(2013-05) Bobbitt, Kaeley Celeste; Gershoff, Elizabeth T.Early childhood—a period of development that research has established as a critical period for establishing a foundation to support later development and well-being—is increasingly likely to take place in multiple contexts. Continuity and discontinuity in children’s exposure to environmental chaos across two important contexts for their early development: (1) the home and (2) the early learning and care (ELC) setting were examined using data from a large representative sample of low-income preschool children attending Head Start in order to determine how children’s exposure to chaos in each context combine to either promote or interfere with their social-emotional and cognitive development over a year of preschool. A series of multi-level models tested whether children’s experiences of chaos, operationalized in three ways: (1) as individual indicators of crowding, lack of routines, and instability in each setting; (2) as a cumulative index of chaos in each setting; and (3) as a profile that incorporated children’s experiences across setting, influenced children’s social-emotional and cognitive development. Both household and classroom chaos predicted children’s development, but children’s experiences in their home environments were the predominant influence, indicating that children who had non-chaotic home environments gained more over the preschool year than did children who had chaotic homes. These findings provide additional support that effective and high-quality early education and care settings must incorporate children’s home and family experiences.Item Class negotiations : poverty, welfare policy, and American television(2014-08) Murphy, Nicole Lynn; Beltrán, MaryTelevision impacts the shape of our common culture by depicting our societal fears, myths and hopes in a constantly shifting and negotiated manner. There is a glaring lack of research regarding media representations of children/adolescents in poverty. The study of this intersection is critically important for understanding societal discourse around education, healthcare, government assistance programs and even the opinions and practices of teachers and administrators. Children under 18 years of age represent 24 percent of the population, but they comprise 34 percent of all people in poverty in the United States. Among all children, 45 percent live in low-income families and approximately one in every five (22 percent) live in poor families. In this thesis, I trace discourse in the mainstream news and popular culture regarding children and poverty through welfare debates and policy changes in the U.S. from the 1990s and 2000s through the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations. Subsequently, I analyze the construction of this discourse on narrative television in the shows My So Called Life (ABC, 1994-1995) The O.C. (FOX, 2003-2007) and Shameless (Showtime, 2011-). Through this mapping, I examine how gender, sexuality, race, and age are mobilized in constructing televisual representations of poverty; as well as how shifting discourses and depictions make transparent society’s anxieties regarding poverty.Item Design matters : the relationship between policy design, context, and implementation in integration plans based on voluntary choice and socioeconomic status(2010-05) Diem, Sarah Lauren; Holme, Jennifer Jellison; Reyes, Pedro; Young, Michelle D.; Cantu, Norma; Ferguson, MiguelThe recent decision handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (2007) has forced school districts to begin thinking of new ways to integrate their schools without relying on race as the single factor in their assignment plans. While some school districts already have begun to implement race-neutral student assignments, others are just beginning the process and are looking to plans that have been able to maintain diversity despite the new limitations being placed on them. In order to learn more about what factors are most critical in shaping racial and socioeconomic diversity in school districts, I examined the interaction between the design and implementation of 3 different integration plans that rely on voluntary choice and socioeconomic status (SES). I wanted to determine whether these factors had any effect on the way such integration plans are employed and ultimately on school-level diversity outcomes. I was also interested in learning how the local sociopolitical context influenced outcomes. I used qualitative case methodology, which allowed me to focus on the processes and meanings behind the plans. I conducted a historical analysis of desegregation on each of the school districts and used data collected from documents and interviews to analyze how design interacted with context to produce particular outcomes. I situated my analysis in the education policy implementation literature as it tells us that people and places play integral roles in how a policy is designed, adopted, and implemented. The ultimate success of a policy is heavily influenced by the actors involved in the creation of the policy as well as the context in which the policy is implemented. I found that the success of these plans depends heavily on their context. Urban school districts that have high poverty levels and few White students have a difficult time maintaining diversity, whereas school districts that incorporate the city and surrounding suburbs are more likely to maintain diversity because White, middle-class families do not have the same opportunity to flee the district. Furthermore, school districts that use geographic zoning and regulated choice are able to maintain higher levels of diversity. Support from the community and local policymakers also can play a role in the success of integration plans. The findings suggest that geographic and political contexts matter in the shaping and adoption of integration plans based on voluntary choice and SES. I offer suggestions to maintain integration given the local sociopolitical context of the school districts.Item DIFFERENCES IN ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT BY GRADE SPAN CONFIGURATION: A TEXAS STATEWIDE STUDY(2016-08-04) Fiaschetti, Carolyn F; Slate, John R.; Martinez-Garcia, Cynthia; Moore, George W.Purpose The purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to examine the extent to which grade span configuration was related to the academic achievement of students in Grades 5 and 6. Specifically, the academic achievement of students in poverty, boys and girls, and students of three ethnic/racial groups (i.e., White, Black, and Hispanic) were examined. Specifically analyzed in these three investigations were the reading and mathematics achievement of these groups of students according to the grade span configuration of their school. The two grade span categories that were compared were a single or double grade level school (i.e., Grade 4-5, 5 only, or 5-6) and a multiple grade level school (i.e., PreK-Grade 6). Each of these three empirical investigations included three years of statewide public school data analyzed. This 3-year analysis of data permitted a determination of the extent to which trends were present in the relationship of grade span configuration with academic achievement of students in Grade 5 and 6 enrolled in Texas public schools. Method A causal-comparative research design was used for this study. Archival data were obtained from the Texas Education Agency for three school years (i.e., 2012-2013, 2013-2014, and 2014-2015). Specific information obtained for Grade 5 and 6 students in Texas was: State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness Reading and Mathematics passing rates; grade span configuration; economic status; and ethnic/racial status. Student passing rates were analyzed as a function of grade span configuration by poverty, gender, and ethnic/racial status for Grade 5 and 6 students in Texas. Findings Statistically significant results were present for all reading analyses, with multi-grade level grade span configurations having statistically higher passing rates than single/double grade span configurations, and for all but two mathematics passing rates analyses. Higher passing rates were present for students in multi-grade level schools than their peers in single/double grade level schools. Results from this study were congruent with much of the recent empirical literature in that student academic performance is better in settings that have more grade levels than in settings with fewer grade levels. Implications for policy and recommendations for research were provided.Item Differences in dropout rates, General Education Development recipient rates, High school graduation rates as a function of school size for students in poverty: A Texas multiyear statewide study.(2017-04-03) Ambrose, Amy Renee; Moore, George W.; Slate, John R.; Martinez-Garcia, CynthiaArchival data from the Texas Education Agency Academic Performance Report were analyzed to examine the relationships between high school enrollment size and dropout rates, GED recipient rates, and graduation rates for students in poverty. Statistically significant differences were determined in dropout rates and graduation rates for students in poverty as a function of high school size. In both school years, high schools with lower student enrollment had higher dropout rates and lower graduation rates for student in poverty than high schools with higher numbers of students enrolled. Only for 2014, were the 4-year longitudinal GED recipient rates the highest in small size high schools when the UIL classifications were used. Implications of these results for policy and for practice are provided.Item Education for the alleviation of poverty : a comparative study of conditional cash transfer programs to improve educational outcomes in Nicaragua and Colombia(2009-05) Stackhouse, Shannon Alexis; Lincove, Jane Arnold; Reyes, Pedro, 1954-The importance of education for individual well-being, social cohesion and economic growth is widely accepted by researchers and policymakers alike. Yet there exist vast numbers of people around the world, largely poor, who continue to lag behind wealthier people, often within their own nations. Conditional cash transfer programs were created to encourage investments in education and health by subsidizing their cost and changing household preferences. The programs increase short-term income as well as future wage potential, thus decreasing short-term and long-term poverty, as well as the poverty that is passed from generation to generation. Begun in Mexico and Brazil, the conditional cash transfer model is being replicated in many countries, but its replicability across socioeconomic and political contexts is far from clear. The present study adds to the research on conditional cash transfer programs through a comparative quantitative analysis of the effects of two programs on key educational outcomes in Nicaragua and Colombia. Using secondary panel data for the Nicaraguan Red de Proteccion Social and the Colombian Familias en Accion programs, a model reflecting demand constraints to education is used to determine the relative impacts of individual and household characteristics in the schooling decision, as well as to measure program impact in some of the most impoverished communities in the two countries. The empirical analysis is situated within a description of the historical, political and demographic contexts into which the programs were introduced. The results indicate that both programs increased enrollment and attendance, with lesser but still positive effects on retention. These effects were stronger for boys in Colombia, as was the importance of schooling expectations in determining enrollment. The study suggests that conditional cash transfer programs should be effective in other settings in which low educational attainment is caused largely by a lack of household resources.Item The effect of first interbirth interval on women's poverty at midlife(2012-05) Stevenson, Amanda Jean; Potter, Joseph E.; Powers, Daniel A.Understanding the relationship between childbearing and socioeconomic status could help explain one mechanism by which the United States’ gender disparity in poverty comes to exist. However, measuring the relationship between childbearing and socioeconomic status is complicated by the very high prevalence of childbearing among women and multiple sources of endogeneity in the characteristics of childbearing that do vary. Focusing on the timing of childbearing, I use miscarriage to construct an instrument for delivery and build a counterfactual condition for having a short temporal space between births. Using this approach with data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, I estimate the effect on midlife poverty of having first and second births within 24 months of each other. My results indicate that these short interbirth intervals are causally related to increased midlife poverty. The results are robust to a variety of alternate specifications of counterfactual conditions and estimation methods.Item An empirical measurement of the option for the poor(2012-12) Esparza Ochoa, Juan Carlos; Woodberry, Robert Dudley; Powers, Daniel A.; Pullum, Thomas W.; Roberts, Bryan R.; Villarreal, Andres; Garrard-Burnett, VirginiaThis study links both census and religious service data, aggregating them at significant geographical levels. This makes it possible to test (1) if there is empirical evidence of the Catholic Church prioritizing the pastoral service to the poorest population of Mexico, and (2) if the results at different levels of analysis are consistent. To answer these questions, I will introduce the analysis by an overview of the research and the conceptualization of poverty and the way the Catholic Church has faced this social condition, particularly in Latin America and Mexico. Following the overview, the research design is presented specifying research questions, hypotheses, data, and the procedures followed to process and analyze such data. In my analysis I will present the geographical distribution of five dimensions of poverty in Mexico (deprivation of material goods, lack of running water, limited access to health services, illiteracy, and ethnicity) and the main indicator of pastoral services offered by the Catholic Church (number of parishes). Data from different sources will be linked and aggregated at different geographical levels through statistical and GIS platforms. Two main innovative tools to achieve this are the Areas of Direct Pastoral Influence (ADPI) and the Maximum Historically Consistent Geographical Units (MxHCGUs). These resources help to distribute and link socio-demographic and pastoral data. ADPIs facilitate focusing on the detailed relationships whereas MxHCGUs can be re-aggregated to higher-level units of analysis. The analysis includes descriptive geo-statistical tools to identify geographic patterns and test for spatial autocorrelation. Negative binomial regressions test the correlation of poverty and pastoral services at different levels of aggregation of the data. Besides identifying the levels and dimensions of poverty where there is empirical evidence of the priorities of pastoral service, I address the consistency of the different geographical aggregations and explain the differences. I emphasize the analysis of the levels of geographical aggregation directly relevant to the organizational structure of the Catholic Church: the ecclesiastical circumscriptions and the parishes. I will explain in detail the characteristics of both administrative-territorial levels and their importance in order to understand the provision of pastoral care. Although former sociological studies have never considered these levels in the study of poverty, they are the very units of aggregation used by the Catholic Church in pastoral strategies and decisions. Therefore, these are the most pertinent levels of analysis for a study about the priorities of pastoral services. It should be noted that the main limitation of this research is the lack of longitudinal data that would be necessary to test causality. However, this study links these kinds of data for the first time and there is no source of more complete information: the data presented here are actually the basis for the official maps of the Mexican Catholic Church. Therefore this means a major advance in this kind of research. On the one hand, the dataset that I put together sets the basic structure to organize historical censuses and ecclesiastical data; on the other hand, although the results are limited to cross-sectional data, this exploratory step is crucial for my broader research agenda because this study will evaluate basic procedures that will enable the later incorporation and analysis of longitudinal data from more than 120 years.Item Essays on education, inequality and society(2013-12) Pechacek, Julie Ann; Black, Sandra E.This dissertation consists of three chapters on labor economics. The first two chapters focus on education, and the third examines inequality and incarceration. Chapter one explores whether college students strategically delay exiting college in response to poor labor market conditions. It exploits variation in U.S. state unemployment rates to identify the causal impact of unemployment rates on time to graduation. Strategic delay is observed among both men and women. Results indicate that students delay graduation by approximately 0.4 months for each percentage point increase in junior-year unemployment rates, implying the average student delays by approximately half a semester during a typical recession. Effects are greatest for men with freshman majors in education, professional and vocational technologies, the humanities, business, and the sciences, and for women in education, the sciences, or undeclared. Delays are robust to fluctuations in students’ in-school work hours, earnings, and job market conditions. Chapter two assesses the impact of over-the-counter access to emergency contraception on women’s educational attainment using variation in access produced by state legislation since 1998. Approximately 5% of American women of reproductive age experience an unintended pregnancy annually, indicating a significant unmet need for contraception. Results indicate that cohorts with greater access to emergency contraception are more likely to graduate from high school and attain the associate’s degree. Effects for high school graduation are most pronounced among black women, while increases in associate’s degree attainment are driven primarily by white and Hispanic women. Chapter three explores the relationship between incarceration and generational inequality. Using a calibrated OLG model of criminal behavior with race, inheritance and endogenous education, I calculate how much longer prison sentences, and a higher likelihood of capture and conviction contribute to income inequality. Results indicate that changes to criminal policy mirroring those of the “tough on crime” legislation of the 1980s and 1990s, including an 18% increase in criminal apprehension and a 68% increase in prison sentence length, have little impact on inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient. Instead, the model provides evidence that these enhanced enforcement measures deter crime and decrease incarceration rates.Item Essays on poverty, microfinance and labor economics(Texas Tech University, 2006-08) De Silva, Sandaradura Indunil Udayanga; Rahnama, Masha; Steinmeier, Thomas L.; McComb, Robert P.This dissertation presents three essays examining some of the issues concerning poverty, microfinance and returns to education. The first essay examines the micro-level determinants and correlates of poverty, and presents a poverty profile for Sri Lanka. This is the first study that examines the probable determinants and correlates of Sri Lankan poverty in a multivariate framework employing both logit and quantile regressions. The empirical findings are broadly encouraging. The estimation results show that the education of the household head, being salary employed and being engaged in business to have a significant positive effect on the standard of living. The probability of being poor increases with the household size, household head being female, living in a rural area, and being a casual wage earner. The second essay applied recent advances in propensity score matching to assess the impact of microfinance on household per-capita income and savings. Microfinance for the poor has become a focus of attention in the development community over the last several years. To date, there has been no comprehensive investigation of their impact on household income and savings. The results for the mean impact indicate that program participation significantly increases household per capita savings for the bottom four quintiles, though the magnitude varies by matching method. Even though there are sizable gains in household per capita savings for program participants, this is not evident for household per capita income. Results suggest that there is no impact on household per capita income across all quintiles. The third essay investigates the returns to education in Sri Lankan labor market using the latest Consumer Finance and Socio-economic Survey. This essay employs the quantile regression technique for each conditional quantile wage group rather than mean regression analysis used in most labor market analysis. Quantile regression results suggest that returns to education are positive and significant across all quantiles. However, a comparison of wage returns to education between ethnic groups reveals that returns are higher for Sinhalese workers than for Tamil Workers.Item Exiting poverty: Experiences of resilient Mexican American women(2006-12) Bowman, Victoria L.; Caldera, Yvonne M.; Sharp, Elizabeth A.; Mulsow, MiriamThe primary purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of Mexican American women who self-identified that as children they grew up in poverty and as adults transitioned to the middle class. Through semi-structured interviews, the phenomenological experience of this transition was addressed. Not much is known about individuals who exit poverty and even less is known about Mexican American women who do so. This study thus expands the literature on resilience, ethnic minority groups, and Mexican American women. The present study explores individual, familial, and societal factors, operating and embedded, in the process of exiting poverty. Six Mexican American women between the ages of thirty six and fifty one were interviewed about their experiences and interpretations of their exit from poverty into middle class life. The women were asked to respond to the question, "What was your experience getting out of poverty?" The women's experiences of exiting poverty were interpreted using an interpretive phenomenological analysis. Several themes emerged: the importance of education in making this transition, belief and reliance on God and faith, and teachings from parents/family. Additionally, the women talked about being determined, going against the norm, and making conscious decisions to change their lives. This study therefore illustrates that the women, despite hardships, made the journey from poverty into the middle class.Item From being considered at-risk to becoming resilient: an autoethnography of abuse and poverty(2009-05-15) Mercado-Garza, RosalindaThis qualitative autoethnographic study was the process by which I, a young Latina, was able to evocatively and therapeutically write about the incestual abuse and poverty experienced from age six until the age of 17. It was also the method by which I decided to disclose how I moved from being considered at-risk and became resilient. This study demonstrated the basic tenets of autoethnography and how by overcoming poverty and ending a cycle of abuse, I was able to embrace the spirit of forgiveness. Insight into the discourse of a dysfunctional family is shared, allowing me to offer a message of hope, and shatter stereotypes. The study concludes that autoethnography as a process permits me to tap into new-found autonomy. Autoethnographically, this study represents my life journey, but it can represent the life of many readers who have lived in the United States in impoverished conditions and/or have lived through physical, emotional, verbal and sexual abuse by family members or intimate others. This study legitimized and validated my story as a survivor. Consequently, the plot of the story focuses on the violent acts and conditions, not the people. Focusing on the acts and conditions, while incorporating dialogue permitted me to involve the reader more closely in the story. I leaned on my doctoral studies to expand my understanding of the abuse and poverty I experienced (Holt, 2003). I found that resiliency was central to my life story. Embracing resiliency empowered me to discover new ways of thinking about my life experiences, which included using a salutogenic approach, or a positive model that offered ?alternatives to the deficits-based explanatory models of environmental determinants of health that have dominated the literature? to accept the raw and cruel encounters I was exposed to and turn my thoughts into a healthier way of thinking (Stewart & McWhirter, 2007, p. 490). Tugade and Fredrickson (2004, p. 320) would say that I obtained a psychological resilience to effectively cope and adapt, even though I faced ?loss, hardship, or adversity.? Ultimately, I discovered that resilience is a ?state, a condition and a practice? (Knight, 2007, p. 544).Item The graduates : low-income central Texas students' transitions to college and work in the great recession(2014-08) Cerna Ríos, Alejandra Teresa; Dorn, EdwinThis report explores the extent, trends, and consequences of academic undermatch, defined as students enrolling at an institution of relatively less selectivity than what their academic qualifications grant them access to, including non-enrollment. Using a sample of two cohorts of Central Texas high school graduates, this report finds that undermatch occurs among all students, but that it was more extensive for low-income students and among students with average qualification levels. Low-income students were found to undermatch at 65.1 percent and non low-income students at 53.9 percent of those who enroll. Between 2008 and 2009, undermatch increased among all students; among the highest qualified low-income students it increased by 10 percentage points. The majority of undermatched students were found to be enrolled at two-year over four-year institutions. A negative relationship between qualification level and annual earnings was found in the earnings of students who did not enroll. This report provides a set of recommendations to address undermatch and college access among low-income students in Central Texas.Item Issues in Mexican American education: Addressing the academic needs of Mexican American students at the secondary level(2010-12) Alvarez, Ricky A; Benavides, Alfredo H.; Midobuche, EvaIn light of the growing number of ethnic minority adolescents in the United States, it has long been recognized that the level of educational attainment of Mexican-American students is below to that of other ethnic minority communities in the United States. From towering impoverishment rates, lower parental education, dilapidated neighborhoods and communities, to a clash of culture, marginalized education, and impersonal behaviors, Mexican-American students have endured an educational challenge that has become more difficult to win than imagined. Entailed by cultural identity, exceptionalities, language, gender, economic status, health, beliefs, values, and perceptions of education, this thesis will not only make possible recommendations for the plight among Mexican-American education, but will also investigate the socioeconomic, sociocultural, and the supplementary issues and factors that influence the academic advancement of Mexican-American students at the secondary level.Item It’s hard work being poor : how allostatic load models can contribute to understanding system justification theory(2012-05) Rarick, Jason David; Bentley, Keisha L.; Awad, GermineEvidence linking poverty with poor mental and physical health outcomes is well documented, but until recently little research has focused on the underlying psychological factors that mediate these relationships. This report represents the first step toward exploring how two emerging theories, allostatic load and system justification theory, can be harmonized to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms that propagate poverty. Specifically, this report addresses the question of how poverty-related stress might moderate the degree to which an impoverished individual is inclined to justify a system that fundamentally does not favor them. Promising future research will be addressed.Item Luchando para salir adelante : economic migration, social ties and poverty resistance strategies of undocumented Latin American immigrants to Texas(2016-05) Scott, Jennifer Lauren; Padilla, Yolanda C.; Auyero, Javier; DiNitto, Diana; Gilbert, Dorie; Villarreal, MagdalenaIn the contemporary context of economic inequality, policies of immigrant exclusion have shifted focus to Latino immigrants, particularly the undocumented. Such policies and the prejudice inspiring them further marginalize undocumented people who are already excluded from formal employment and state resources. Still, over 6 million undocumented Latinos make the U.S. their home. In the face of this social and economic exclusion, how do they survive economically? Research on the ‘survival question’ has shifted over the last several decades from understanding survival as reliant on strong social ties, to weaker ties, to ties considered “disposable.” Is this pattern consistent among all economically excluded groups? This mixed-methods study investigated poverty resistance strategies of undocumented Latino immigrants. I analyzed nationally representative data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation to measure their economic wellbeing. Second, I used thematic analysis of 49 in-depth interviews with undocumented Latinos, informed by observation, to explore their survival strategies use of social ties. Undocumented Latinos were significantly more likely to face hardship measured by direct indicators (material hardship and food insecurity) than their documented counterparts. Social support reduced this likelihood of hardship. La lucha frames participation in economic life by connecting economic experiences to broader economic and sociopolitical forces, to a strategy for coping with life in an increasingly hostile socioeconomic context, and to a goal, salir adelante, to get ahead. Palancas, social ties defined by connections to resources, structure social networks. Their use strengthens access to resources and the connections themselves. Navigating la lucha, undocumented Latinos practice administration to maximize resources from formal sector work and informal sales in conjunction with social ties. The undocumented Latino experience suggests that the prior assessment of increasing reliance on weaker social ties may not be universal among the economically excluded. Although undocumented Latinos may face greater economic hardship, reduction in hardship with social support and reliance on social ties indicates a need for interventions that strengthen ties to reinforce economies of scale. Challenges they face to get ahead point to economic, immigration and social welfare policy reform necessary to ensure their ability to salir adelante out of the shadows.Item "Reaching the Unreached": (Un)Making an Inclusive and World-Class Delhi(2012-02-14) Dhanju, RichaThis dissertation focuses on the nature of governance of the urban poor and examines the 'behind the scene' politics as well as the 'side effects' of a recent good governance project designed to serve six million poor citizens in Delhi, India's capital city-state with a total population over 14 million. Over the past decade, Delhi's march to become a world-class city has further marginalized its poor residents as the government has demolished slums, threatened informal livelihoods, and diverted social welfare funds to host international events like the recent Commonwealth Games 2010. Overwhelmed by the growing disparity and a concern for its impact on attracting global trade and tourism, the Delhi government initiated Mission Convergence in 2008, a 'good governance' project implemented in partnership with over hundred community-based Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), to survey every poor person in Delhi, streamline and extend welfare service delivery, and to empower poor women across all low income areas in the city-state. The slogan of this initiative was "reaching the unreached" ? to make the aspiring world-class city inclusive and caring of its poor citizens. Twelve months of ethnographic research with slum residents, partnering NGOs, elected politicians, and government officials, indicates that Mission Convergence introduced a new institutional arrangement for the exclusive governance of the poor in Delhi as an additional two million poor citizens entered the government's welfare registers and more than 400,000 poor women participated in Mission's women's empowerment programs. Such tangible results defined Mission as a successful example of efficient inter-sectoral governance in the global South, but also disturbed the political economy of pre-embedded traditional service providers like elected politicians, local leaders, and welfare staff. This dissertation examines the competing logics of good governance as traditional and new arrangements wrestled to claim authority over serving the poor as the world-class city aspirations continued the social and spatial marginalization of the poor. Mission Convergence was expected to reduce the growing disparity that spawns out of exclusionary urban development policies. However, this dissertation engages with theories of neoliberal governmentality, neoliberal urban development, and feminist economics, to show that supposedly efficient inter-sectoral arrangements could disturb regressive power relations and streamline services for the benefit of the poor, but work in nuanced ways to enable the state to sustain its political legitimacy and to create an aura of its caring and inclusive intentions towards the poor at a time when fast-paced city modernization violated their basic rights to shelter and livelihood in the aspiring world-class Delhi.