Educational, Occupational, and Residential Plans of Youth in South Dakota

When talking about South Dakota youth it has been popular to contend that their future is the future of South Dakota. Furthermore, newspaper reporters, politicians, and others have contended that young men and women would prefer to live in South Dakota, but that economic conditions push them to seek jobs in other states. It has also been proposed that many rural youth, though they would prefer not to, move to urban areas to seek a living. Even with these contentions, little objective research has been done to substantiate that a relationship exists between job seeking and migration for South Dakota youth. Accordingly, it would be appropriate to test the associations among status-seeking and residential plans of South Dakota youth. An understanding of the migration patterns of young adults, and the reasons for their migration, will be helpful in dealing with the problems brought on by young adult migration. Sociologists, demographers, and others have insistently proposed that migration has a profound affect on both donor and acceptor communities. Among the effects on the donor are a decrease in tax revenue and a decline in both social and economic services. Contrary to this, t he acceptor community can expect increased demands on their educational, governmental, and economic institutions. However, these communities can also expect to see increases in tax revenue. If patterns of migration are known, community influentials can compare them to the social and economic characteristics of their communities, and by doing so can determine how best to abrogate those problems brought on by migration. It might be noted that this research takes a different approach than most researchers. Instead of focusing on the characteristics of communities that push and/or pull migrants, the focus of this study is on the association between migration and personal characteristics of individuals. The personal characteristics of most concern are status-seeking plans and the factors associated with them.More specifically, this research is concerned with the following research problem. To what extent are selected social factors associated with the educational, occupational, and residential plans of high school students in South Dakota? Objectives of the Study The research will attempt to distinguish: 1. Which of the selected social origin factors are associated with youth\u27s educational and occupational plans.2. Whether educational achievement factors mediate between social origins and plans. 3. To what extent plans vary by sex. 4. To what extent educational and occupational plans are associated with residential plans

Measures of Student Effort as Predictors of Student\u27s Grades

Astin (1984) has argued that college students\u27 academic successes vary positively with the quality and quantity of their academic efforts. Despite this claim, empirical research has demonstrated that time spent studying-a prime example of student effort-is only a weak predictor of grades. It is argued in this article that this finding does not refute Astin\u27s claim that effort and grades are related, because academic effort is more than just studying for exams; it is multidimensional. A cross- sectional, correlational research design was used in this study to test the relationship between academic success and the many dimensions of student effort. It was found that present semester grades vary positively with academic commitment, setting and honoring priorities, and time spent studying, but vary inversely with alcohol usage, partying, number of hours spent socializing with friends, absences due to boredom with classes, and absences due to the fatigue associated with excessive socializing and partying

Excessive Infant Mortality: An Exploration of Factors Contributing to South Dakota Indians\u27 Life Chances

The consequences of racial inequality are clearly delineated in an analysis of social indicators between racial groups. Among the more direct indicators of social inequality are infant and general mortality rates (Anderson, 1973:286). Indeed, no cold statistic expresses more eloquently the difference between a society of sufficiency and a society of deprivation than the infant mortality rate (Newland, 1981:5). Societies of deprivation that produce higher rates of infant mortality are characterized by low levels of education (Bertoli at al., 1984; Heoht and Outright, 1979), poor health care (Gortmaker, 1879), lower socioeconomic status (Fordyce, 1977), and other problematic environmental conditions. South Dakota is characterized by racial differences in infant mortality rates. Are these rates significantly different? If so, can the social conditions that are associated with high and low rates be distinguished? These are the general questions addressed by this research. Specifically, this research compares and contrasts pertinent vital statistics of the Native American population in South Dakota with the White population. The nature of differential life chances will also be examined

The Importance of College Student Academic Goals: A Symbolic Interactionist Approach

A cross-sectional study of a sample of first and second year students attending a moderately-sized, Great Plains university is used to demonstrate the correlation between academic self-conceptions and academic goals. Multiple regression analysis shows that academic self-conceptions, academic role-taking, job goals, being a parent, and having a Job are excellent predictors of academic goals. The authors recommend that the symbolic interactionist perspective used in the study should be used to study how academic goals link academic self-conceptions with academic behaviors and outcomes

A Social Disorganization Theory of County Crime Rates in Minnesota

This analysis is an application of social disorganization theory for understanding variations in county crime rates in the state of Minnesota. Social disorganization is seen as the breakdown of community institutions of social control, where indicators of breakdown included such things as family disruption and over-crowding. With few exceptions, measures of social disorganization were found to he correlated with county crime rates, with three variables as showing up as especially important; these are percent of children not living with both parents, per capita alcohol tax collected in the county, and net-migration. Three variables—percent of persons with incomes less than $5000, median income, and percent of adults with a high school education—were correlated with crime in directions opposite than what was predicted. Limitations and suggestions for further research are also provided

Structural Conditions and Migration in the Dakotas

This study examines the influence of selected structural conditions on the county-level net-migration trends of North Dakota and South Dakota. Key principles from Lee’s Theory of Migration (1966) and Wallerstein’s World Systems model (1974) were integrated to explain how geographic context, economic dependency, and pace of economic development combine to serve as the main catalysts behind the migration patterns in these two states. Results indicate that commuting patterns, the percentage of workers employed in extractive industries, the percentage of workers employed in manufacturing, and job change rates were significant predictors of county migration patterns

Stepmothers\u27 Preparation for Remarriage: Influence on Spouse and Stepchildren Relations

Role theory suggests that preparation for one\u27s role contributes to clearer guidelines and less ambiguity about role performance, which in turn contribute to unity and stability of family life (Cherlin, 1978). The purpose of this study was to examine if stepmothers preparation for remarriage (observation, reading, educational programs, or talking to their spouses) influenced their relationships with stepchildren and spouses. The results indicate that stepmothers who prepare for remarriage are more involved with their stepchildren, have higher levels of communication with the children\u27s fathers regarding child rearing issues, and have positive relationships with their stepchildren

A Day at the Morgue: Student Interpretations of Death and Reality

This study involved the reflections of 15 college students six months after a visit to a morgue. After witnessing the various aspects of death at the morgue (e.g. morgue intake of bodies, significant time spent in a very large storage cooler for corpses, as well as an autopsy) a qualitative inquiry was conducted to determine whether or not the participants’ experiences were “real” or “surreal.” Analysis revealed that most determined their experience to be surreal. The students’ lack of experience with death, to the extent they experienced it at the morgue, no doubt resulted in more subjects determining the experience to be surreal

Stepmother Self-Role Incongruency in the Newly Formed Family: An Analysis of Stepmothers in the Great Plains

This study is a cross-sectional analysis of stepmothers from a Midwestern community in South Dakota. In this study, the relationships among six sets of variables are analyzed. The dependent variable is stepmother self-role incongruence index. The independent variables along with the strength of relationship in regards to stepmother self-role incongruence, are as follows; role ambiguity index (.393), anticipatory socialization index (-.203), wicked stepmother index (494), stepfamily/stepparent unfavorability index (.288), and a spousal disagreement index (.241). Hypothesis testing supported the hypotheses introduced in this study. Multiple regression analysis identified wicked stepmother beliefs as the best predictor of stepmother self-role incongruence (Beta = .355). Elaboration analysis revealed that the greater stepmother\u27s anticipatory socialization the lesser the belief the wicked stepmother, and the lower the level of self-role incongruence

Tenure of Girl Scout Volunteer Leaders: An Issue of Self-Role Merger

Past and present Girl Scout Volunteer Leaders (GSVLs) in a regional Girl Scout council were sampled to determine the factors that theoretically lead to self-role merger as a GSVL. Self-role merger as a GSVL exists when interacting with others, as a GSVL, is important in sustaining one\u27s sense of worth as a person. The relationship between self-role merger and tenure as a GSVL was also examined. A test of hypotheses shows that the following variables are strongly related with self-role merger: a sense of achievement gained through role performances, the friendships developed through volunteering, and the extent of activities performed by the GSVL and her troop. A moderate, positive association was found between self-role merger scores and tenure; however, the strength of the relationship was much stronger for GSVLs whose daughters had previously left scouting. These findings support the structural symbolic interactionist theory of GSVLs developed in this article. Regional Girl Scout councils should consider these findings when developing strategies to retain GSVL