Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Social structural'

The central concern of this thesis is the examination of individual agents' moral responsibilities in large-scale social structures. I begin with a discussion of the emergence of social structural harm and the history of the collective responsibility debate. I suggest that previous attempts to make accurate responsibility ascriptions in cases of social structural harm have fallen short, leaving responsibility for the harm caused underdetermined. Arguing that collectivist approaches to large-scale harms are inadequate, because those participating in social structures cannot satisfy the criteria for responsibility-bearing groups required by these accounts, I turn to an attempt to provide an individualist account of responsibility in these cases presented by Young. I argue that there are many interesting ideas in her work that support an account of collective responsibility for social structures, but that her specific attempt to develop a new kind of non-moral responsibility ultimately fails. I therefore examine an alternative account of joint responsibility based on agent motivation and attitude presented by Bjornsson, who focusses on the reasons why agents become involved and complicit in collective harms. Through the further development of Bjornsson's discussion of the importance of agent motivation and participation in harmful practices, and Young's analysis of the relationship between individual agents and social structures, I suggest an alternative approach to analysing social structural harm: expanded individualism. To support this account, I analyse the ways in which agents come to be involved in these harms in a blameworthy manner, and the reasons why participation makes individuals responsible for addressing the harms caused by the social structures in which they participate.

The relationship between provincial social service spending and subsequent rates of volunteerism in Quebec was evaluated using information contained in a Montreal volunteer database (N = 2784) and revenue and expenditure data from the Department of Finance. A secondary analysis was performed to identify possible structural correlates to volunteerism, thus providing an alternative to existing theoretical approaches, which predominantly focus on the study of individual differences between volunteers.<br>The results of the correlation analysis revealed a positive relationship between public spending and volunteer rates. In addition, a positive correlation was found to exist between levels of coordination activity and rates of volunteerism, lending strength to the contention that organizational infrastructure is related to volunteer rates. In general, the results highlight the integral role of public monies to the sustainability of Quebec's voluntary sector.

Structural inference for Bayesian networks is useful in situations where the underlying relationship between the variables under study is not well understood. This is often the case in social science settings in which, whilst there are numerous theories about interdependence between factors, there is rarely a consensus view that would form a solid base upon which inference could be performed. However, there are now many social science datasets available with sample sizes large enough to allow a more exploratory structural approach, and this is the approach we investigate in this thesis. In the first part of the thesis, we apply Bayesian model selection to address a key question in empirical economics: why do some people take unnecessary risks with their lives? We investigate this question in the setting of road safety, and demonstrate that less satisfied individuals wear seatbelts less frequently. Bayesian model selection over restricted structures is a useful tool for exploratory analysis, but fuller structural inference is more appealing, especially when there is a considerable quantity of data available, but scant prior information. However, robust structural inference remains an open problem. Surprisingly, it is especially challenging for large n problems, which are sometimes encountered in social science. In the second part of this thesis we develop a new approach that addresses this problem|a Gibbs sampler for structural inference, which we show gives robust results in many settings in which existing methods do not. In the final part of the thesis we use the sampler to investigate depression in adolescents in the US, using data from the Add Health survey. The result stresses the importance of adolescents not getting medical help even when they feel they should, an aspect that has been discussed previously, but not emphasised.

This dissertation analyses the period of Structural Adjustment in Mexico from 1986 to 1999. This includes the liberalisation of the incentive system and the restoration of investment. The research work presented here looks at the effect of an aspect of structural adjustment policy - trade reform -on labour market outcomes at the household level, in Mexico, by considering a large number of observations (household members), from a number of cities, over a period of thirteen years. It examines whether Mexico should have used alternative policies in order to improve the economic and social conditions of the poor. The main questions explored by this dissertation are: What has been the impact of adjustment on Mexican macroeconomic indicators directly related to poverty? Were migration and remittances affected by the adjustment process? The specific research questions are: 1. How did the effects of economic reform on wage and employment vary with age and gender in the short and medium term? Did this relationship change over time? 2. Did structural adjustment and trade liberalisation harm or help the poor? 3. Did the reforms help the poor indirectly through their positive effect on economic growth? 4. What were the effects of macroeconomic policy on aggregate measures of welfare - average wage, proportion of individuals unemployed? 5. What happened to migration and remittances during the analysed period? There are three separate analyses. The first two use repeated cross-sectional models to determine the effects of policy, economic conditions and household characteristics on wages, the probability of being unemployed and employed in the informal sector, as well as the probability of being poor. It is important to mention that this study refers mainly to the urban population. It is the use of household characteristics as control variables in the determination of welfare that distinguishes the models here from the macroeconomic models commonly used. For comparison, a third analysis uses a traditional time series model to measure the effects of policy and economic conditions on aggregate measures of welfare.

The default mode network (DMN) is active in the absence of task demands and during self-referential thought. Considerable evidence suggests that the DMN is involved in normative aspects of social cognition, and as such, disruptions in the function of DMN would be expected in disorders characterized by alterations in social function. Consistent with this notion, work in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) has demonstrated altered activation of several core regions of the DMN relative to neurotypical controls. Despite emergent evidence for alterations within the same brain systems in SAD and ASD, as well as a behavioral continuum of social impairments, no study to date has examined what is unique and what is common to the brain systems within these disorders. Therefore, the primary aim of the current study is to precisely characterize the topology of neural connectivity within the DMN in SAD and ASD and neurotypical controls in order to test the following hypotheses through functional and structural connectivity analyses of the DMN. Our analyses demonstrate increased coavtivation of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex in ASD and SAD compared to controls, as well as over and under connectivity in structural brain connectivity in ASD. These results may reflect general deficits in social function at rest, and disorder specific alterations in structural connectivity in ASD.<br>Master of Science

There has been significant interest in studying social interactions in online social networks, such as how people exchange opinions, disseminate information, and adopt certain behaviours. One phenomenon addressed is information diffusion: the way information is spread in social networks. Since their emergence, online social networks have been used by people to create and share content. They provide a set of functionalities that facilitate these and other tasks, allowing users to interact with each other. For researchers, these platforms became the basis for understanding complex human behaviours, one of which is the ‘urge’ to share content with others. Online social networks allow users to create and share various types of content daily. In fact, the bulk of the content displayed on these platforms is not original but shared. Thus, the ability to decipher the phenomenon of information diffusion became essential in diverse fields, such as marketeers who wish to create content that spreads, sociologists who wish to understand the underlying phenomenon, and web scientists who wish to understand the web as a sociotechnical entity. In its simplest form, the information diffusion process in online social networks consists of the content that spreads, the context that facilitates the spread, and the outcome of the process. The underlying structure on which the content spreads is the network of connections between users (the social network). Therefore, the structure of the diffusion is also a network that links users, and is based on information about who influences whom to spread the content. This network is known as the cascade. In the literature, diffusion and cascades are intersecting concepts, and they are often used interchangeably. However, this work differentiates the two. Diffusion is used to ii refer to the phenomenon while cascade is used to refer to the result of the diffusion, i.e. the structural representation of the diffusion process. This work investigates information diffusion on Tumblr, an online social network platform that provides reblogging functionality. Reblogging allows users to reblog posts, which creates a cascading behaviour that can be observed. The reblogging history is provided as a list of notes attached to each post and all of its reblogged copies. In practice, these notes have two parts: structural (who reblogged from whom) and temporal (when did the reblogging occur). These two aspects complement each other in providing an understanding of the diffusion process as it manifests in the form of a cascade. Studying such explicit cascades is important as it allows understanding the information diffusion, a phenomenon that occurs in many implicit forms on the Web. This work’s contributions include proposing an information diffusion framework that conceptualises the elements of the diffusion (namely, the content, context and cascade) and how they relate to each other. It also proposes construction models that create cascade networks minimal contextual information and missing/degraded data. In addition, this work provides a survey of the structural and temporal features of cascades, including their definitions and implications. It also investigates Tumblr as a platform for information diffusion, analyses the structural and temporal aspects of Tumblr’s cascades and compares its features with cascades obtained from other platforms. The main findings show that Tumblr’s most popular content create ‘large’ cascades that are deep, branching into a large number of separate and long paths, having a consistent number of reblogs at each depth and at each given time. These cascades gain their popularity throughout time in various ways; some of them feature high reblogging activities followed by idleness phases, others fluctuate more slowly accumulating rebloggings. Few cascades regain their popularity after long periods of idleness, while the majority have one outstanding popularity phase that is never repeated.

A new approach to structural equation modeling based on so-called extended redundancy analysis (ERA) is proposed. In ERA, latent variables are obtained as exact linear combinations of observed variables, and model parameters are estimated by consistently minimizing a single criterion. As a result, the method can avoid limitations of covariance structure analysis (e.g., stringent distributional assumptions, improper solutions, and factor score indeterminacy) in addition to those of partial least squares (e.g., the lack of a global optimization procedure). The method is simple yet versatile enough to fit more complex models; e.g., those with higher-order latent variables and direct effects of observed variables. It can also fit a model to more than one sample simultaneously. Other relevant topics are also discussed, including data transformations, missing data, metric matrices, robust estimation, and efficient estimation. Examples are given to illustrate the proposed method.

Le marketing viral sur les réseaux sociaux en ligne représente un enjeu de taille pour les entreprises. Aussi est-il nécessaire de comprendre ce qui anime l’activité virale des utilisateurs. En s’appuyant sur des données quantitatives extraites sur Facebook grâce à une application spécifique, nous modélisons les différentes actions virales de l’utilisateur (partages sur son mur, partages sur les murs de ses amis, commentaires, J’aime sur les posts, J’aime sur les commentaires). Nos analyses mettent en lumière trois familles de variables explicatives de son activité : l’activité de ses amis envers lui (effets de réciprocité), leur position dans la structure de son réseau d’amitié (effets structuraux) et le renseignement de ses informations « profil » (motivation à se dévoiler). Une approche qualitative complémentaire nous amène à identifier quatre postures des utilisateurs sur Facebook (engagement exposé, engagement protégé, évitement exposé, évitement protégé). Celles-ci s’inscrivent au croisement de deux axes. L’un concerne la façon dont l’utilisateur règle la zone de confidentialité dans laquelle il est amené à s’exprimer (verrouillage vs ouverture). L’autre concerne la façon dont sa « face » et celles de ses amis sont engagées par son activité en ligne (engagement vs évitement). Nous croyons que les entreprises peuvent tirer profit de l’identification des postures de leurs consommateurs sur Facebook. Nous présentons nos contributions de recherche et leurs implications managériales<br>On social networks, viral marketing represents a key issue for companies. By logical extent, it appears necessary to understand what drives a user's viral activity. Quantitative data crawled from Facebook with an application allowed us to define various viral actions (sharing in one's news feed, on friends' walls, commenting, liking posts or comments). Our analysis highlighted three groups of action-explaining factors: [1] friend interaction (reciprocating effect), [2] the structural position in a user's friendship network (structural effect) and [3] the level of profile information detail (indicating willingness to show one's actual identity). In a complementary qualitative study, we identified four user positions - exposed involvement, protected involvement, exposed avoidance and protected avoidance. These positions underscore two major behavioral criteria. The first criterion addresses users' onlin visibility adjusments (displaying or protective). The second criterion defines the user's friend's level of engagement as a subsequent result of his activity (involvement or avoidance). We believe companies could benefit from identifying their consumers' behavioral stances on Facebook. Here we will demonstrate our contributions to research and their managerial implications

This study used the Factor Analytic Structural Equations Model (FASEM) to test the plausibility of two nested causal models of depression, the Full Model and Restricted Model, in a 2-month prospective study. Subjects were 103 undergraduate students. The Full Model deals with the causal relations among indices of life events, social interest, social problem solving, and depression across time. In contrast, causal relations among indices of life events and depression across time were assessed by the Restricted Model. Both models provided acceptable representations of the observed data. Although both models were accepted by 4 goodness-of-fit criteria, including the Chi-square goodness-of-fit test, the Full Model suggests the specification of more causal factors clarifies the effect of social interest and social problem solving on depression, enables a more complete assessment of depression, and is consistent with a pluralistic view of depression (Craighead, Kennedy, Raczynski, & Dow, 1984). In the present study, two questions were addressed: (1) the causal relation between social interest and social problem solving on depression, and (2) the magnitude of the causal impact of social interest and social problem solving on depression. Contrary to predictions, significant paths from both social interest and social problem solving to depression were not found. However, consistent with predictions, social interest had a stronger effect on depression than social problem solving. Directions for future research, theoretical implications, and possible applications of the Full Model are discussed.

Stratification variables - such as educational attainment, income, poverty, race, women in the labor force, and metropolitan residence - as they relate to demographic change and response theory and economic analysis theory were examined. The theoretical perspectives were supported in the findings because the variables related to economic status highly correlated with fertility levels. This study used the United States Census Bureau and Kentucky Vital Statistics data to examine changes in fertility in Kentucky counties from 1970 to 1990 and to test whether fertility rates (GFR and children ever born) for the years 1970, 1980, and 1990 varied according to the stratification variables. It was hypothesized that educational attainment, income, women in the labor force, and metropolitan residence would have negative relationships with fertility levels. Poverty and race were hypothesized to have positive relationships with fertility levels. Correlations and regressions were conducted to examine the relationships among the variables. Poverty, income, women in the labor force, and educational attainment produced high intercorrelations with one another and with fertility levels. Race and metropolitan residence did not have significant effects on fertility levels.

Cette thèse, structurée en trois (03) essais, développe de nouveaux modèles économétriques pour l’analyse des interactions sociales et des séries temporelles. Le premier chapitre (coécrit avec le Professeur Vincent Boucher) étudie une méthode d’estimation des effets de pairs à travers les réseaux sociaux lorsque la structure du réseau n’est pas observée. Nous supposons que nous connaissons (avons une estimation convergente de) la distribution du réseau. Nous montrons que cette hypothèse est suffisante pour l’estimation des effets de pairs en utilisant un modèle linéaire en moyennes. Nous proposons un estimateur de variables instrumentales et un estimateur bayésien. Nous présentons et discutons des exemples importants où notre méthodologie peut être appliquée. Nous présentons également une application avec la base de données Add Health largement utilisée et qui comporte de nombreux liens non observés. Nous estimons un modèle des effets de pairs sur la réussite scolaire des élèves. Nous montrons que notre estimateur bayésien reconstruit les liens manquants et permet d’obtenir une estimation valide des effets de pairs. En particulier, nous montrons qu’ignorer les liens manquants sous-estime l’effet endogène des pairs sur la réussite scolaire. Dans le deuxième chapitre, je présente un modèle structurel des effets de pairs dans lequel la variable dépendante est de type comptage (nombre de cigarettes fumées, fréquence des visites au restaurant, fréquence de participation aux activités). Le modèle est basé sur un jeu statique à information incomplète dans lequel, les individus interagissent à travers un réseau dirigé et sont influencés par leur croyance sur la décision de leurs pairs. Je présente des conditions suffisantes sous lesquelles l’équilibre du jeu est unique. Je montre que l’utilisation du modèle spatial autorégressif (SAR) linéaire-en-moyennes ou du modèle Tobit SAR pour estimer les effets de pairs sur des variables de comptage générées à partir du jeu sous-estime asymptotiquement les effets de pairs. Le biais d’estimation diminue lorsque la dispersion de la variable de comptage augmente. Je propose également une application empirique. J’estime les effets de pairs sur le nombre d’activités parascolaires auxquelles les étudiants sont inscrits. En contrôlant l’endogénéité du réseau, je trouve que l’augmentation du nombre d’activités dans lesquelles les amis d’un étudiant sont inscrits d’une unité implique une augmentation du nombre d’activités dans lesquelles l’étudiant est inscrit de 0,295. Je montre également que les effets de pairs sont sous-estimés à 0,150 lorsqu’on ignore la nature de comptage de la variable dépendante. Le troisième chapitre (coécrit avec le Professeur Arnaud Dufays et le Professeur Alain Coen) présente une approche de modélisation de séries temporelles. Les processus avec changements structurels sont une approche flexible pour modéliser des longues séries chronologiques. En considérant un modèle linéaire en moyennes, nous proposons une méthode qui relâche l’hypothèse selon laquelle une cassure structurelle dans une série temporelle implique un changement de tous les paramètres du modèle. Pour ce faire, nous estimons d’abord les dates de cassures potentielles présentées par la série, puis nous utilisons une régression pénalisée pour détecter les paramètres du modèle qui changent à chaque date de cassure. Étant donné que certains segments de la régression peuvent être courts, nous optons pour une fonction de pénalité(presque) non biaisée, appelée fonction de pénalitéseamless-L0(SELO). Nous montrons que l’estimateur SELO détecte de manière convergente les paramètres qui varient à chaque cassure et nous proposons d’utiliser un algorithme de maximisation d’espérance de recuit déterministe(DAEM) pour traiter la multimodalité de la fonction objectif. Étant donné que la fonction de pénalité SELO dépend de deux paramètres, nous utilisons un critère pour choisir les meilleurs paramètres et par conséquent le meilleur modèle. Ce nouveau critère présente une interprétation bayésienne qui permet d’évaluer l’incertitude des paramètres ainsi que l’incertitude du modèle. Les simulations de Monte Carlo montrent que la méthode fonctionne bien pour de nombreux modèles de séries temporelles, y compris des processus hétéroscédastiques. Pour un échantillon de 14 stratégies de hedge funds (HF), utilisant un modèle de tarification basé sur l’actif, nous mettons en exergue la capacité prometteuse de notre méthode à détecter la dynamique temporelle des expositions au risque ainsi qu’à prévoir les rendements HF.<br>This dissertation, composed of three (03) separate chapters, develops new econometric modelsfor peer effects analysis and time series modelling.The first chapter (a joint work with Professor Vicent Boucher) studies a method for estimatingpeer effects through social networks when researchers do not observe the network structure. We assume that researchers know (a consistent estimate of) the distribution of the network. We show that this assumption is sufficient for the estimation of peer effects using a linear-in-means model. We propose an instrumental variables estimator and a Bayesian estimator. We present and discuss important examples where our methodology can be applied. We also present an application with the widely used Add Health database which presents many missing links. We estimate a model of peer effects on students’ academic achievement. We show that our Bayesian estimator reconstructs these missing links and leads to a valid estimate of peer effects. In particular, we show that disregarding missing links underestimates the endogenous peer effect on academic achievement. In the second chapter, I present a structural model of peer effects in which the dependent variable is counting (Number of cigarettes smoked, frequency of restaurant visits, frequency of participation in activities). The model is based on a static game with incomplete information in which individuals interact through a directed network and are influenced by their belief over the choice of their peers. I provide sufficient conditions under which the equilibrium of the game is unique. I show that using the standard linear-in-means spatial autoregressive (SAR) model or the SAR Tobit model to estimate peer effects on counting variables generated from the game asymptotically underestimates the peer effects. The estimation bias decreases when the range of the dependent counting variable increases. I estimate peer effects on the number of extracurricular activities in which students are enrolled. I find that increasing the number of activities in which a student’s friends are enrolled by one implies an increase in the number of activities in which the student is enrolled by 0.295, controlling for the endogeneity of the network. I also show that the peer effects are underestimated at 0.150 when ignoring the counting nature of the dependent variable. The third chapter (a joint work with Professor Arnaud Dufays and Professor Alain Coen) presents an approach for time series modelling. Change-point (CP) processes are one flexible approach to model long time series. Considering a linear-in-means models, we propose a method to relax the assumption that a break triggers a change in all the model parameters. To do so, we first estimate the potential break dates exhibited by the series and then we use a penalized likelihood approach to detect which parameters change. Because some segments in the CP regression can be small, we opt for a (nearly) unbiased penalty function, called the seamless-L0 (SELO) penalty function. We prove the consistency of the SELO estimator in detecting which parameters indeed vary over time and we suggest using a deterministic annealing expectation-maximisation (DAEM) algorithm to deal with the multimodality of the objective function. Since the SELO penalty function depends on two tuning parameters, we use a criterion to choose the best tuning parameters and as a result the best model. This new criterion exhibits a Bayesian interpretation which makes possible to assess the parameters’ uncertainty as well as the model’s uncertainty. Monte Carlo simulations highlight that the method works well for many time series models including heteroskedastic processes. For a sample of 14 Hedge funds (HF) strategies, using an asset based style pricing model, we shed light on the promising ability of our method to detect the time-varying dynamics of risk exposures as well as to forecast HF returns.

Antibiotic resistance has become a global burden, affecting both highly developed and less developed countries. Resistance results in increased morbidity and mortality, especially in children under five. The principles of resistance are understood biologically but the social and structural factors that perpetuate it are far more complex and integrated on an individual, household and community level. The solution to combat resistance thus must be more than the continuous development and production of new antibiotics, which is quickly transitioning from a solution to a causal factor, and instead target behaviors and systems that promote resistance. This thesis investigates the causal social and structural factors of antibiotic resistance in the Andean Region of South America; geographically diverse though with limited research conducted on remote and rural communities. The main factors discussed within pertain to those that if enhanced or corrected, would begin to decrease the probability or minimize the spread of antibiotic resistance including sanitation and agricultural practice, strong community leadership in education, and improved communication and modes of surveillance.

Two central ideas characterise the dominant discourse surrounding sovereign debt and sovereign debt crises: the portrayal of the crisis as the only problem and the singling out of the debtor state as the main culprit. This thesis challenges both of these ideas and, in doing so, contributes to the nascent normative literature on finance and justice, as well as to the more established debates on global justice and structural injustice. First, the most serious problem is not the crisis itself, but a highly asymmetrical and unjust Sovereign Debt and Credit Regime (SD&CR), which rests on and further entrenches positions of advantage and disadvantage along lines of class and citizenship. Occupiers of positions of disadvantage are vulnerable to structural domination and exploitation when debt is accrued. Three heuristic categories are introduced here to better understand how the injustices characterising the SD&CR are reproduced, namely the ‘structural processes proper’, the ‘structural-relational’, and the ‘structural-systemic’ dimensions. Second, an integrated responsibility model is defended, which challenges the unilateral attribution of responsibility to the debtor state and allows for more expansive and differentiated responsibility attribution. According to this model, creditors can be held responsible on three grounds: moral responsibility, benefit, and role responsibility. Disadvantaged debtor governments, in turn, are responsible to resist their domination and exploitation. This responsibility may give rise to (a) the duty to refuse to renounce their own agency by endorsing outcome responsibility, and (b) to the duty to engage in acts of state civil disobedience. Finally, citizens cease to have debt servicing obligations if the state budget is systematically used in the interest of only a fraction of the state’s citizenry and whenever the acquisition of further debt threatens the state’s ability to act in the public interest.

The goal of this study was to attempt to develop a classification scheme that systematically related individual behavior, interpersonal behavior, and group interactions for the purpose of using the resulting classification scheme to evaluate theories of group development proposed by Bion, Bennis and Shepard, Bales, and Tuckman and Jensen. It was assumed that theorists' presuppositions about the structure of groups might influence their theories. Using a qualitative process of analysis, a structural classification scheme (SCS) was developed based upon transformative and generative rules, utilizing the General System Theory subsystem process of self-regulated boundary operations. The SCS protocol was employed to categorize and compare the theories of group development proposed by Bion, Bennis and Shepard, Bales, and Tuckman and Jensen. The resulting categorization of theories indicated that relationships existed among and between a group's structural properties, the complexity and type of communication connections among and between group members, and the size of the group. In addition, a common structural relationship was demonstrated to exist among and between individual, dyadic, and triadic group forms. A similar structural relationship was also speculated to exist between groups of any size. It was concluded that a structural approach to groups may offer insight to group leaders and members in recognizing and creating alternative frameworks that best fit a group's structure to its task. This approach may have broad implications in that it suggests that group goals might best be considered before the structure of the group is determined. In addition, a structural approach was also speculated to be an emotionally neutral alternative method of discussing individual and group behavior.

This study investigated the structure of social self-concept in preadolescent children at school. Subjects were 227 male and female grade three students from eight schools in a metropolitan area. A multidimensional, hierarchical model of social self-concept was proposed and tested using confirmatory factor analytic procedures within the framework of the analysis of covariance structures. The hypothesized model was based upon the theoretical model of self-concept first proposed by Shavelson, Hubner, and Stanton (1976). Subjects were given two self-report instruments designed to measure self-concept in the areas of social relations with classmates, other children at school, and teachers. Additionally, a teacher rating scale and a peer sociometric instrument were used as measures of the child's actual social behaviour. Data were collected at two time points, in the fall and the spring of the same academic year. The hypothesized and counterhypothesized models provided a poor fit to the data. Analyses then continued in an exploratory mode. Of all models tested, the best-fitting model of social self-concept was found to be a four-factor model with general self-concept as the first factor, self-concept of popularity as the second factor, social self-concept in general and in regard to school and classmates as the third factor, and social self-concept in regard to teachers as the fourth factor. Because the facets of social self-concept were found to be less differentiated than hypothesized it was not possible to investigate the proposed hierarchical structure of the construct. Partial support was found for the hypothesis that social self-concept can be differentiated from social behaviour as measured by peers and teachers. Social behaviour with teachers, in particular, was found to be very different from self-reports of social behaviour. Social behaviour with peers and self-reports of social behaviour with peers were found to be associated moderately, indicating that self and other ratings were referring to the same, or similar, behaviours, but each from their own unique perspective. Analysis of the second time point data did not support the stability of social self-concept over a six month period, indicating the necessity of replicating these results before conclusions can be more than tentative. This study presented an important possible revision to the Shavelson et al. (1976) model of self-concept. The study demonstrated the salience of popularity in the child's conception of his or her own social relations. It demonstrated, further, that the child's perspective regarding social relations differs from that of peers or of teachers.

This paper explores a Master of Social Work (MSW) student's experiences in engagement with structural social work during an advanced practicum with a perinatal mental health project in Northeastern Ontario. The goals of the advanced practicum were to: (a) improve reflexive practice, (b) improve understanding of structural social work, specific to social justice, and (c) improve understanding of the role of structural social workers within inter-organizational collaborations. Deconstruction of the engagement with each of the goals and the challenges in facilitation of the objectives are reviewed. Though there are issues and dilemmas facing those who wish to engage in structural social work, this advanced practicum experience was successful in improving the student's engagement with structural social work praxis.

Includes bibliographical references<br>While a number of studies have explored the functional neuroanatomy of social anxiety disorder (SAD), comparatively few studies have investigated the structural underpinnings in SAD. 18 psychopharmacologically and psychotherapeutically naïve adult patients with a primary Axis I diagnosis of generalized social anxiety disorder and 18 demographically (age, gender and education) matched healthy controls underwent 3T structural magnetic resonance imaging. A manual tracing protocol was specifically developed to compute the volume of the most prominent subcortical gray matter structures implicated in SAD by previous functional research. Cortical thickness was estimated using an automated algorithm and whole brain analyses of white matter structure were performed using FSL's tract - based spatial statistics comparing fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD) in individuals with SAD. Manual tracing demonstrated that compared to controls, SAD patients showed an enlarged right globus pallidus. Cortical thickness analyses demonstrated significant cortical thinning in the left isthmus of the cingulate gyrus, the left temporal pole, and the left superior temporal gyrus. Analyses of white matter tractographic data demonstrated reduced FA in in the genu, splenium and tapetum of the corpus callosum. Additionally reduced FA was noticed in the fornix and the right cingulum. Reduced FA was also noted in bilateral corticospinal tracts and the right corona radiata. The results demonstrate structural alterations in limbic circuitry as well as involvement of the basal glanglia and their cortical projections and input pathways.

The focus of the present study was to test through SEM the relationships between family influences (FI) and school influences (SI) on factors hypothesized to be associated with adolescent social interest: school belonging (SB), extracurricular participation (EP), and peer/romantic involvement (PRI). The final model consisted of FI and SI that contributed to the expression of adolescent social interest. FI included parental communication and parental caring. SI consisted of teacher fairness. SB consisted of a child's self-reported feelings of belonging at school, EP included self-reported involvement in sports or academic clubs, and PRI consisted of self-reported desire for romantic involvement or desire for participation with others. The proposed model suggested that FI contributed significantly to self-reported SB, EP, and PRI. Additionally, it was hypothesized that SI would contribute significantly to SB and EP, but not to PRI. The data used in the current study were part of an existing data set collected as part of the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health. The total sample size for the present study was 2,561 male and female adolescents aged 12-19 years. The data consisted of adolescent and parent self-report information. Results suggested a significant relationship between FI and self-reported SB and PRI. As expected, a significant relationship existed between SI and SB. Also as expected, no significant relationship existed between SI and PRI. Neither the relationship between FI and EP nor SI and EP were significant. When analyzed separately, a significant relationship existed between SB and PRI; however, no significant relationship was found between SB and EP. Results also indicated several of the fit indices, including the average off-diagonal absolute standardized residual, the comparative fit index (CFI), and the Bentler-Bonett non-normed fit index (BBNFI), were a low to moderate fit. However, the final model was highly skewed and the model chi-square and chi-square were both exceptionally high, indicating the model appeared to moderately fit the data, but the need for further refinement is clear.

Online social and information networks, like Facebook and Twitter, exploit the influence of neighbors to achieve effective information sharing and spreading. The process that information is spread via the connected nodes in social and information networks is referred to as diffusion. In the literature, a number of diffusion models have been proposed for different applications like influential user identification and personalized recommendation. However, comprehensive studies to discover the hidden diffusion mechanisms governing the information diffusion using the data-driven paradigm are still lacking. This thesis research aims to design novel diffusion models with the structural and behaviorable dependency of neighboring nodes for representing social networks, and to develop computational algorithms to infer the diffusion models as well as the underlying diffusion mechanisms based on information cascades observed in real social networks. By incorporating structural dependency and diversity of node neighborhood into a widely used diffusion model called Independent Cascade (IC) Model, we first propose a component-based diffusion model where the influence of parent nodes is exerted via connected components. Instead of estimating the node-based diffusion probabilities as in the IC Model, component-based diffusion probabilities are estimated using an expectation maximization (EM) algorithm derived under a Bayesian framework. Also, a newly derived structural diversity measure namely dynamic effective size is proposed for quantifying the dynamic information redundancy within each parent component. The component-based diffusion model suggests that node connectivity is a good proxy to quantify how a node's activation behavior is affected by its node neighborhood. To model directly the behavioral dependency of node neighborhood, we then propose a co-activation pattern based diffusion model by integrating the latent class model into the IC Model where the co-activation patterns of parent nodes form the latent classes for each node. Both the co-activation patterns and the corresponding pattern-based diffusion probabilities are inferred using a two-level EM algorithm. As compared to the component-based diffusion model, the inferred co-activation patterns can be interpreted as the soft parent components, providing insights on how each node is influenced by its neighbors as reflected by the observed cascade data. With the motivation to discover a common set of the over-represented temporal activation patterns (motifs) characterizing the overall diffusion in a social network, we further propose a motif-based diffusion model. By considering the temporal ordering of the parent activations and the social roles estimated for each node, each temporal activation motif is represented using a Markov chain with the social roles being its states. Again, a two-level EM algorithm is proposed to infer both the temporal activation motifs and the corresponding diffusion network simultaneously. The inferred activation motifs can be interpreted as the underlying diffusion mechanisms characterizing the diffusion happening in the social network. Extensive experiments have been carried out to evaluate the performance of all the proposed diffusion models using both synthetic and real data. The results obtained and presented in the thesis demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed models. In addition, we discuss in detail how to interpret the inferred co-activation patterns and interaction motifs as the diffusion mechanisms under the context of different real social network data sets.

Theory and research results about the structure of social representations have been built usually from the study of isolated representations. The studies aiming at identifying structural relations involving two or more representations are more recent. In the literature, different terms have been employed to refer to inter-related social representation sets, managed or not by a superior ideological stance; in those cases, we refer to representation families, systems or networks. In this context, there are coordination relations, in which associations can be identified at the same level of a social thinking architecture. Traditionally, the studies of representations in conjunction – presenting element intersections at the level of their cores or object labels – have been privileged. The present research aims at contributing to the knowledge about disjoint representations. When, at an inter-representation level, there are two or more representation structures linked by relations between cognems or between object-label words, we propose the name of representational system to the macrostructure that is formed, with relations formalized by the basic cognitive schemes model. The main research aim was to identify relations among elements of different social representations, submitting to test the existence of connection points among representations at the same level of the social thinking architecture. It is a model that conceives inter-representation relations at the level of cognems. All the studies concerned the investigation of a representational system including the social representation on aging. Most of the studies were conducted with university undergraduate samples from Padua, Italy – and Studies 1-A and 1-B also had a Brazilian sample of undergraduates and an Italian sample of elderly people. The first studies had the purpose of characterizing the representation system. After a preliminary qualitative study conducted with interviews with people from different age groups, which has allowed to identify the cognems of the social representation on aging, Studies 1-A and 1-B were comparative investigations that characterized the structural status of the elements of that representation and also structural differences linked to age groups and cultural context. Study 2 was a survey marked by paired evaluations of proximity between objects linked to the aging theme which allowed the identification of three social representations highly connected to aging, by means prototypical and similarity analyses: death, health and family. Study 3 had a mixed nature, with characteristics of both a quasi-experiment and a survey. It provided the characterization of the structures of the chosen social representations in the system and also assessed the intensity of relations between social objects in that system. Additionally, participants evaluated pairs of elements of the representation on aging and the other representations and indicated if they perceived a connection or not, enabling the identification of possible connection points. After the identification of those possible relationships, the focus shifted to testing the plausibility of a model for connection points including a bridge relation between those elements. Study 4 consisted of context manipulations of emphasis or relativization of a peripheral element of the social representation on health that was connected to elements from the social representation on aging. It was observed that a context change relative to a peripheral element of a representation interferes on the activation of schemes relative to a second representation, regardless of their structural status; it is a first empirical evidence of the validity of a theoretical conception of coordination relations involving disjoint representations of a same system by means of connection points. Finally, Studies 5-A and 5-B aimed at verifying if denying or confirming the information of cognems from connection points would be associated with activation differences of semantic and evaluative relations (bridge relations) with elements connected to them, from the representation on aging. Differences were identified in the sense that compatibility with the content of the manipulated cognem was associated with higher valences of at least one of the hyperconnectors. As a conclusion, evidence was found of relations among social representations at the level of their elements, and the conception of a theoretical model of inter-representation connection points presented promising results. The model contributes to the understanding of mechanisms of association of social representations in disjunction and also opens possibilities for application especially concerning social representation dynamics, which might also take representation systems into account.<br>Le teorie e i risultati di ricerca sulla struttura delle rappresentazioni sociali sono stati costruiti, in generale, a partire dallo studio di rappresentazioni isolate. Gli studi volti a identificare le relazioni strutturali che coinvolgono due o più rappresentazioni sono più recenti. In letteratura, termini diversi sono stati impiegati per riferirsi a insiemi interconnessi di rappresentazioni sociali, gestiti o non da un’istanza ideologica superiore; in questi casi, ci riferiamo a famiglie, sistemi o reti di rappresentazioni. In questo contesto, vi sono relazioni di coordinamento, in cui le associazioni possono essere identificate allo stesso livello dell’architettura del pensiero sociale. Tradizionalmente, sono stati privilegiati gli studi di rappresentazioni in congiunzione, che presentano intersezioni di elementi al livello dei loro nuclei o etichette di oggetto. La presente ricerca si propone di contribuire alla conoscenza di rappresentazioni disgiunte. Quando, a livello inter-rappresentazione, ci sono due o più strutture legate da relazioni tra cognemi o tra etichette di oggetti, proponiamo il nome di sistema rappresentazionale per la macrostruttura che ne risulta, con relazioni formalizzate dal modello di schemi cognitivi di base. L'obiettivo principale della ricerca è consistito nell’identificazione di relazioni tra elementi di rappresentazioni sociali diverse, sottoponendo a prova l'esistenza di punti di connessione tra rappresentazioni allo stesso livello dell’architettura del pensiero sociale. Si tratta di un modello che concepisce le relazioni interrappresentazione al livello dei cognemi. Tutti i cinque studi condotti hanno coinvolto un sistema di rappresentazioni, tenendo la rappresentazione sociale dell’invecchiamento come punto di riferimento. La maggior parte degli studi è stata svolta con campioni di convenienza di studenti universitari di Padova, Italia. Gli Studi 1-A e 1-B hanno avuto anche un campione brasiliano di studenti e un campione italiano di anziani. I primi studi avevano lo scopo di caratterizzare il sistema rappresentazionale. Dopo un’indagine preliminare qualitativa condotta con interviste a persone di diverse fasce di età, la quale ha permesso di identificare i cognemi della rappresentazione sociale sull’invecchiamento, gli Studi 1-A e 1-B sono stati realizzati tramite ricerche comparative che hanno caratterizzato lo statuto strutturale degli elementi di quella rappresentazione e anche delle differenze strutturali legate a gruppi di età e contesti culturali diversi. Lo Studio 2 è consistito in una ricerca caratterizzata da valutazioni appaiate di prossimità tra oggetti legati al tema dell'invecchiamento, la quale ha permesso l'identificazione di tre rappresentazioni sociali altamente connesse all'invecchiamento attraverso analisi prototipiche e di similitudine: morte, salute e famiglia. Lo Studio 3 ha avuto un carattere misto, con caratteristiche sia di quasi-esperimento sia di survey. Ha fornito la caratterizzazione delle strutture delle rappresentazioni sociali scelte dal sistema ed anche permesso di valutare l'intensità delle relazioni tra oggetti sociali in quel sistema. Inoltre, i partecipanti hanno valutato le coppie di elementi della rappresentazione sull’invecchiamento e sugli altri tre oggetti e hanno indicato se percepivano una relazione o meno tra di loro, permettendo l’individuazione di possibili punti di connessione. Dopo l'individuazione delle relazioni possibili, l'attenzione è stata rivolta a verificare la plausibilità di un modello di punti di connessione tra elementi con una relazione ponte. Lo Studio 4 è consistito nella manipolazione di un elemento periferico della rappresentazione sociale della salute (tramite sua enfasi o relativizzazione), collegata ad elementi della rappresentazione sociale dell’ invecchiamento. E' stato osservato che un cambiamento di contesto rispetto ad un elemento periferico di una rappresentazione interferisce sull’attivazione di schemi relativi ad una seconda rappresentazione del sistema, indipendentemente dal suo statuto strutturale. Si tratta di una prima evidenza empirica della validità di una concezione teorica che sottolinea le relazioni di coordinamento fra rappresentazioni disgiunte in uno stesso sistema per mezzo di punti di connessione. Infine, gli Studi 5-A e 5-B avevano lo scopo di verificare se il negare o confermare le informazioni di cognemi in punti di connessione fosse associato a differenze di attivazione di relazioni semantiche e valutative (relazioni ponte) con elementi ad essi connessi, della rappresentazione dell’invecchiamento. Sono state individuate delle differenze, nel senso che una compatibilità con il contenuto del cognema manipolato è stata associata con valenze più alte di almeno uno degli iperconnettori. In conclusione, si sono trovate evidenze empiriche riguardo relazioni tra rappresentazioni sociali a livello dei loro elementi, e ha trovato sostegno, con risultati promettenti, la concezione di un modello teorico di punti di connessione tra rappresentazioni. Il modello conntribuisce alla comprensione dei meccanismi di associazione di rappresentazioni sociali in disgiunzione e apre anche la possibilità di applicazioni soprattutto per quanto riguarda le dinamiche delle rappresentazioni sociali, attraverso interventi mirati sui sistemi di rappresentazione presi in esame.

Dans le cadre de ce travail de thèse nous nous attachons à articuler l'approche structurale des représentations sociales avec les champs des émotions et des rapports intergroupes. Ce travail se compose ainsi de deux axes de recherche. Le premier axe (n = 340) s'intéresse à l'impact de l'infirmation ou de la confirmation de cognitions centrales ou périphériques sur les émotions dans l'optique d'éclairer le rôle que pourraient jouer ces dernières dans le cadre de la dynamique représentationnelle. Les deux recherches réalisées à cette occasion nous amènent à considérer que le système périphérique serait générateur d'émotions et que celles-ci se situeraient alors au cœur du processus conduisant les individus à réagir à une modification de leur environnement immédiat. Le second axe (n = 920) se focalise sur les liens entre l'approche structurale et les rapports intergroupes. Il témoigne de l'importance de la fonction identitaire des représentation sociales en indiquant que le fait de partager ou non un élément central d'une représentation sociale agirait sur la manière dont les individus s'auto-catégorisent et catégorisent autrui comme membre du groupe. Finalement, au travers de la prise en compte de l'approche structurale, ce travail souligne l'intérêt d'une articulation entre la théorie des représentations sociales et des champs d'étude généralement appréhendés indépendamment de cette dernière<br>Within the framework of this PhD thesis we attempt to articulate the structural approach of social representations with the fields of emotions and intergroup relations. Thus, this work gets organized around two main lines of research. The first part (n = 340) focuses on the impact of the invalidation or the confirmation of central or peripheral cognitions on emotions with the goal of enlightening the role that the latter might play within the representational dynamic. Both research conducted in this occasion bring us to consider that the peripheral system would generates emotions that would lie at the heart of the process leading people to react to changes in their immediate environment. The second part (n = 920) focuses on the links between the structural approach and intergroup relations. It highlights the importance of the social identity function of social representations by indicating that fact of sharing (or not) a central element of a social representation would influence the way people self-categorize and categorize others as members of the group. Finally, through the consideration of the structural approach, this work emphasizes the interest of establishing connections between the social representation theory and other fields of study that are generally considered as independant

Includes bibliographical references.<br>Background: Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a common psychiatric condition characterised by fear and avoidance of social situations. Lifetime prevalence is 5-16% and co-morbidity with other mood and substance abuse disorders is common. Symptoms including cognitive, behavioural and physiological components vary between individuals. Of these, blushing and gaze fear and avoidance are regarded as cardinal symptoms. First line treatment of SAD involves SSRIs and cognitive behavioural therapy, while surgery may also be considered for excessive blushing. Blushing and gaze avoidance are thought to have an evolutionary adaptive advantage, promoting the display of submissive behaviour and appeasement in threatening situations. MRI research has demonstrated differences on functional and structural neuroimaging between patients with SAD and healthy controls (HCs). However, little is known about the neurocircuitry underlying gaze fear and avoidance or increased blushing propensity or how the severity of these traits correlate with the neuroimaging differences found in SAD. In this research, I explored the neuroanatomy of blushing propensity and gaze fear and avoidance in the context of SAD. Methods: 18 SAD patients and 18 HCs underwent structural MRI scans and self-report scales were administered to assess their symptom severity, blushing propensity and gaze fear and avoidance. Structural data was analysed using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Regression and contrast analyses were used to correlate blushing propensity and gaze anxiety and avoidance symptoms with brain volumes, controlling for total grey matter volume, age and level of education. Results: Anxiety, blushing propensity and gaze fear and avoidance symptoms were all significantly higher in SAD patients (p<0.001). Brainstem volumes were increased for higher blushing scores a (p<0.01), while the volumes of left inferior parietal lobe b (p=0.04) and left occipital cortex a (p<0.01) were decreased. With increased gaze fear and avoidance, there were associated decreases in the right posterior cingulate cortex a (p<0.01), right occipital lobe b (p=0.03) and right fusiform gyrus a (p<0.01). Increased blushing and gaze symptom severity considered together, was associated with increased brainstem volume a (p<0.01) and decreased pons/cerebellum b (p=0.001), right cerebellum b (p=0.009), left cerebellum c (p<0.001) and left inferior parietal lobe a (p<0.1), volumes. Contrast analysis of SAD and HC brain volumes revealed a greater grey matter volume in HCs in the regions of left occipital cortex (p<0.01), left anterior cingulate (p<0.01) and right inferior parietal lobe (p<0.01) when compared to SAD patients. Increased symptom severity in SAD was significantly associated with higher volumes in the left premotor cortex (p<0.01), right hippocampus (p<0.01), left orbitofrontal cortex (p<0.01) and right superior temporal cortex (p<0.01). Possible areas for of interest for volume differences between SAD and HCs include total grey matter volume (d =0.83), left and right anterior cingulate cortex (d =0.68 and d =0.65), and left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (d =0.55 and d =0.54), yet these differences were not significantly different. (a uncorrected peak levels b uncorrected cluster level, c corrected cluster level). Conclusion: Differences in brain volumes pertaining to blushing and gaze fear and avoidance in SAD patients may be a contributing factor or a consequence of these core symptoms, and a potential biomarker for SAD. Future studies could build on this preliminary research with increased sample sizes, and determine the possible effects of reduced symptom severity and treatment options on brain structure and function. Most importantly, an investigation of the genetic underpinnings and functional neural correlates of blushing and gaze avoidance behaviour may enhance our understanding of the complex aetiology of these cardinal SAD symptoms, thereby improving our understanding of SAD as a psychiatric disorder and facilitating better patient care and management.

Individuals infected with HIV through heterosexual contact made up 24% (9,578) of all new infections in the United States. Female sex workers are at increased risk of getting HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STI) because they may be more likely to participate in risky sexual behaviors including sex with multiple partners and condom-less anal/vaginal sex. Guided by the syndemic theory, the purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between social and structural factors (homelessness, substance use, immigration status, and use of healthcare) and risky sexual behaviors (condom-less vaginal sex and multiple sex partners) among female sex workers while controlling for age and sexual violence. This study was conducted using a quantitative research approach with a correlational method. Multiple linear regression statistical testing was performed using data from 534 participants from the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance study. Immigration status was not significantly associated with condom-less vaginal sex or multiple sex partners. However, homelessness and substance use were positively associated with condom-less vaginal sex and multiple sex partners. In addition, utilization of healthcare was negatively associated with condom-less vaginal sex. The results from this study can increase awareness and knowledge of challenges and barriers among female sex workers living in Illinois. In addition, the results of this study may contribute to establishing baseline epidemiology of this population and guidelines on addressing the factors associated with unsafe sexual behaviors that can potentially lead to HIV and other STIs.

In this thesis, I contribute to the study of how arrangements are made in social interaction. Using conversation analysis, I examine a corpus of 375 telephone calls between employees and clients of three Community Home Care (CHC) service agencies in metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia. My analysis of the CHC data corpus draws upon existing empirical findings within conversation analysis in order to generate novel findings about how people make arrangements with one another, and some of the attendant considerations that parties to such an activity can engage in: Prospective informings as remote proposals for a future arrangement – Focusing on how employees make arrangements with clients, I show how the employees in the CHC data corpus use ‘prospective informings’ to detail a future course of action that will involve the recipient of that informing. These informings routinely occasion a double-paired sequence, where informers pursue a response to their informing. This pursuit often occurs even after recipients have provided an initial response. This practice for making arrangements has been previously described by Houtkoop (1987) as ‘remote proposing.’ I develop Houtkoop’s analysis to show how an informing of a future arrangement can be recompleted, with response solicitation, as a proposal that is contingent upon a recipient’s acceptance. Participants’ understanding of references to non-present third parties – In the process of making arrangements, references are routinely made to non-present third parties. In the CHC data corpus, these third parties are usually care workers. Prior research (e.g., Sacks & Schegloff, 1979; Schegloff, 1996b) explains how the use of ‘recognitional references’ (such as the bare name ‘Kerry’), conveys to recipients that they should be able to locate the referent from amongst their acquaintances. Conversely, the use of ‘non-recognitional references’ (such as the description ‘a lady called Kerry’), conveys that recipients are unacquainted with the referent. I examine instances where the selection of a recognitional or non-recognitional reference form is followed by a recipient initiating repair on that reference. My analysis provides further evidence thatthe existing analytic account of these references corresponds to the way in which participants themselves make sense of them. My analysis also advances an understanding of how repair can be used, by recipients, to indicate the inappositeness of a prior turn. Post-possible-completion accounts – In a case study of a problematic interaction, I examine a misunderstanding that is not resolved within the repair space, the usual defence of intersubjectivity in interaction (cf. Schegloff, 1992b). Rather, I explore how the source of trouble is addressed, outside of the sequence of its production, with a ‘post-possible-completion account.’ This account specifies the basis of a misunderstanding and yet, unlike repair, does so without occasioning a revised response to a trouble-source turn. By considering various aspects of making arrangements in social interaction, I highlight some of the rich order that underpins the maintenance of human relationships across time. In the concluding section of this thesis I review this order, while also discussing practical implications of this analysis for CHC practice.

Religious institutions are among the deepest reservoirs of social belonging in America, but what determines whether belonging is cultivated in these institutions? Previous research shows that individuals’ social network composition is a primary predictor of feelings of belonging. However, less is known about how group characteristics condition the influence of social networks on belonging. We use data from the 2001 U.S. Congregational Life Survey and multilevel modeling to examine how organizational characteristics such as group size, in-group network density, and aggregate ideological uniformity moderate the effects of individual social networks on sense of belonging. Results indicate that both structural (network density, church size) and cultural (ideology) characteristics of groups significantly condition the effects of individual social networks on belonging. Smaller group size, network density, and ideological unity cultivate contexts that amplify the relationship between personal networks and belonging.

This thesis has two main aims. The first is substantive: to investigate whether and how an individual’s perceptions of their area act as risk factors for offending. The second is methodological: to demonstrate that theoretically-informed structural equation modelling can make best use of existing and often under-utilised datasets, particularly cross-national studies such as those typically conducted by large-scale organisations or governments. Using the United Kingdom Offending, Crime and Justice Survey (OCJS) conducted between 2003 and 2006, and taking a range of questions on individual perceptions, family circumstance, self-reported offending and variables relating to the area in which the respondent lives, the work reviews previous criminological measurement constructs of well-known risk factors (from both an analytical and theoretical perspective) and once these are defined moves on to examine self-report offending using structural equation modelling. Findings are predominantly consistent with previous work and show that individual criminogenic propensities matter most, but also that a complex interrelationship of area perceptions operate in conflicting directions. Once this is accounted for, living in an area with higher disorder seems to increase self-report offending, with part of the relationship explained by perceptions of lower collective efficacy. However, this relationship seems to operate only at one time point and when looking longitudinally it appears that it is the family situation that takes precedence. This leads in turn to mixed policy implications. In the short-term, it appears that interventions to address perception of area would be most successful to combat offending behaviour but over the longer term addressing the family situation would be more appropriate. Implications for data collection processes and analytical approaches to existing data are centred on the simple analytical framework that pays equal attention to the set of questions: 1) What can be measured? 2) Can these measures be structured? 3) What are the results?

An interdisciplinary approach to policy and governance recognizes that many social welfare problems are interrelated, and policy-makers have long recognized a need to address the root causes of these problems. There is much evidence that income inequality is one of these root causes but research suggesting the effect of income inequality is mediated by social capital has complicated the relationship, as have theories of causality that take different approaches. This study takes an ecological approach to these issues to test the relationship between income inequality, social capital and selected adverse outcomes proposed by the relative income hypothesis. The relative income hypothesis posits that the impact of income inequality on adverse outcomes is mediated by social capital. The study used a retrospective cross-sectional design to analyze county-level data for the year 2000 with a structural equation model composed of three constructs: income inequality, modeled by four common measures; a social capital construct based on a model developed by Rupasingha, Goetz and Freshwater (2006); and an adverse outcomes construct designed as a parsimonious measure of social outcomes in four public affairs disciplinary areas. The test of the path presumed by the relative income hypothesis revealed both a direct effect of income inequality and indirect effect of inequality through social capital. However, the direct effect of income inequality on outcomes was significantly larger than the indirect effect, indicating the relationship is moderated, rather than mediated, by social capital. Since the impact of social capital on the selected adverse outcomes was relatively small, and the final model failed to achieve statistical significance, the relative income hypothesis that income inequality exerts its primary effect on outcomes through social capital was rejected.<br>Ph.D.<br>Other<br>Health and Public Affairs<br>Public Affairs PhD

The United States currently provides a health care system that is neither efficient nor equitable. Despite outspending the world on health care, over three-fourths of developed countries produce better health outcomes (Auerbach et al., 2000). Simultaneously, the "Ecological School of Thought" has documented the large impact that social, economic, and environmental circumstances play in health outcomes. Unfortunately, these 'ecological" studies are frequently conducted without theoretical justification, and rely solely on a cross-sectional research design and a myriad of unrelated variables. This study represents an important step towards the development of a true theory of "ecology". More specifically, we argue that the adversity associated with socio-economic disadvantage, social disorganization, and a lack of health care resources, leads to adverse health outcomes, represented by sentinel health events. This research employs both a cross-sectional (2000) and longitudinal designs (1990 &#150; 2000) to assess the antecedents of sentinel health events in 309 United States counties. Structural Equation Modeling was the statistical technique employed in the study. Findings revealed that socioeconomic disadvantage remains a primary contributor to sentinel health. Indeed the economic growth between 1990 and 2000 was associated with increased rates of sentinel health events. Social disorganization was identified as a primary contributor to sentinel health events at a specific time point (2000), but was not significant over time (1990 -2000). Conversely, the inadequacy of health care resources was non-significant in the cross-sectional model (2000), but significant in the longitudinal model (1990 -2000). In both models, racial characteristics were fundamentally linked to ecological predictors of health We found support for the notion that sentinel health events would be reduced through economic equity and the development of healthy environments where community ties are reinforced. Less support is found for saturating given geographical areas with health care resources in order to reduce sentinel health events. Future research should be directed by the theoretical advancements made by this study. More specifically, future studies should examine independent cross-level effects, that is, through the inclusion of behavior variables as mediating factors for ecological constructs.<br>Ph.D.<br>Other<br>Health and Public Affairs<br>Public Affairs PhD

This study evaluated the relative fit of both Finn's (1989) Participation-Identification and Wehlage, Rutter, Smith, Lesko and Fernandez's (1989) School Membership models of high school completion to a sample of 4,597 eighth graders taken from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 , (NELS:88), utilizing structural equation modeling techniques. This study found support for the importance of educational engagement as a factor in understanding academic achievement. The Participation-Identification model was particularly well fitting when applied to the sample of high school completers, dropouts (both overall and White dropouts) and African-American students. This study also confirmed the contribution of school environmental factors (i.e., size, diversity of economic and ethnic status among students) and family resources (i.e., availability of learning resources in the home and parent educational level ) to students' educational engagement. Based on these findings, school social workers will need to be more attentive to utilizing macro-level interventions (i.e., community organization, interagency coordination) to achieve the organizational restructuring needed to address future challenges. The support found for the Participation-Identification model supports a shift in school social workers' attention from reactive attempts to improve the affective-interpersonal lives of students to proactive attention to their academic lives. The model concentrates school social work practices on the central mission of schools, which is educational engagement. School social workers guided by this model would be encouraged to seek changes in school policies and organization that would facilitate educational engagement.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2010.<br>Digitized and made available by the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center as part of Minds@UW. WU Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-94).

This research presents a structural model of the effect of the organization of military units upon their capability. This research is oriented towards a more complete understanding of military capability and policy decisions about the structure and development of military forces. We identify the types of national and military policy decisions that claims of military capability inform, and find that there are five distinct types of capability claims relevant to military policy. We show how these types of capability claims are logically related to each other, but have different premises, predicates, and standards of proof. We find that one of these types of claims, General Organization Capability Claims, ties together the various military policy decisions. The remainder of this research shows how these capability claims can be formally structured based on military doctrine and structurally evaluated using a network-science based model. The interaction between the structural elements of a military organization (personnel, materiel, and information) and the things it is supposed to do (military tasks) can be represented and analyzed with network science methods, and represents a type of general organization capability claim. We present a method for representing policy decisions about unit structure and tactical doctrine. We then develop two versions of a structural model of capability–one that links the individual elements of an organization to the tasks it performs; another that considers the capacity of a set of organizations to meet a set of requirements. We show that network statistics of organizations represented off of authoritative, rather than observational, data are still consistent with network science findings but require interpretation. We also show how alternate methods of aggregating organizations can expand the utility of the capability measurement. This research presents five new contributions to the fields of military policy analysis and network science–(1) a taxonomy of military capability claims, (2) a meta-network model of doctrinal organization and task data, (3) a structural model of organization capability, (4) a structural model of organization capacity, and (5) a network-based method integer programming method.