A Gathering of Waters is a community-based art and activism project to raise awareness that the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo is a desperately endangered river, connect communities dependent on the river, and galvanize those communities into action. Activities provided actual and symbolic experiences of river water for American Indian, Hispanic, Anglo, and…

A survey of 50 Hispanic and non-Hispanic parents of children with learning disabilities examined treatment of the two groups of parents in the special education process, parents' involvement in the process, and how parental treatment compared to the mandates of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). Strategies are suggested to maximize…

Present study examined a model of the direct and indirect influences of mother, child, and family factors on home learning activities in low-income families. Results provided partial support for the model. Separate analyses yielded comparable results for Anglo- and Mexican-Americans. Ways to facilitate parent self-efficacy are discussed. (Author)

To assess the impact of economic hardship on 111 European American and 167 Mexican American families and their 5th-grade (M age 11.4 years) children, a family stress model was evaluated. Structural equation analyses revealed that economic hardship was linked to indexes of economic pressure that were related to depressive symptoms for mothers and…

A recent issue of importance in the vast literature on well-being and age concerns the factorial invariance of the construct across age groups. Current wisdom suggests that while differences in loadings exist among age groups, the construction of summary measures introduces little bias. To investigate age and ethnic variation in the meaning of…

The study examines and compares free/spontaneous play behaviors of 20 Hispanic (from Ponce, Puerto Rico) and 20 Anglo (from State College, Pennsylvania) 5-year-old children from middle class socioeconomic strata. Within each of the groups there were 10 boys and 10 girls. Each child was observed in a group play setting in four observational…

School environments dominated by high socioeconomic status levels have a negative effect on ethnic self-attitudes and on ethnic salience in self-identification, but Anglo-dominated school environments alone do not. In a test of the effect of different levels of Anglo dominance in schools on the ethnic self-attitudes of Hispanic elementary…

Two claims are made concerning the interrelationship of language acquisition and socialization processes: (1) the process of acquiring language is deeply affected by the process of becoming a competent member of a society; and (2) the process of becoming a competent member of society is realized to a large extent through language and through…

Discussed in this paper is a preliminary analysis of findings from data gathered during the first phase of a research project exploring the processes whereby the nature of the mother's occupation affects her family life, especially (1) her partnership in decisions about housework, child care and education and (2) the negotiation of the allocation…

Through the use of a model combining constructs proposed by Zigler and Trickett (1978) and Schaefer (1978), the structure of social competence in preschool children was investigated. Measures chosen for inclusion in the assessment battery and specific variables related to each measure were the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Revised…

A desegregation plan ordered for the Dallas [Texas] Independent School District (DISD) included voluntary desegregation on the high school level through the use of career education in "magnet schools" (MS) (those that attract students by offering special career, vocational, or other programs). The plan, drawn up by a task force of…

The study examined: (1) whether children from different ethnic backgrounds structure their inquiry into social problems along different lines and (2) whether these children have different value orientations at various age levels. The sample consisted of children, ages 7 to 12 years, from three groups: (1) American--no foreign language spoken…

The differentials between Spanish origin and other ethnic groups of farm wageworkers were investigated by comparative analyses of age, sex, education, migratory status, employment, and earnings. Farmworkers were defined as persons 14 years and over in the civilian noninstitutional population who performed farm wagework at some time during 1973,…

Focusing on the experience of the Southwest Texas communities of Laredo, Del Rio, Crystal City, and Sonora, the politics of bilingual education were examined. Emphasis was on school-community relations and community response to bilingual education. Using an informal approach, the study sought to sharpen an understanding of the problems likely to…