Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Concern for the oral health status of Americans was heightened with the publication in 2000 of a report by the Department of Health and Human Services entitled “Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General.” The impact of poor oral health was a fundamental theme of the report which presents the major economic and social issues surrounding oral health delivery systems, the biology of oral disease, the effects on individuals and society of poor oral health, and most importantly, the need to extend oral health services to a variety of Americans with inadequate access to fundamental dental services. While both dentists and dental hygienists provide oral health services, dental hygienists function in a more preventive capacity. Ascension of the professional ladder has been slower and more difficult for dental hygienists compared with other allied health professions. Wide state level variation exists with regard to their legally permitted scope of practice. A new professional index was constructed to reflect the legally prescribed levels of supervision, tasks permitted, regulations, and reimbursement for dental hygienists within each state, and factor analyzed for validity. Multi-level modeling indicates that higher levels of professional scope of practice result in better oral health outcomes for individuals nested within states.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper looks at individuals’ use of mass media during democratization. Using surveys to capture individual strategies of media as sources of information, I find weak but consistent effects of information-seeking in countries in transition. To further explicate these findings, I introduce macro-level variables that guide our expectations about the liberalization of media institutions and how these reform processes shape individuals media strategies of information-seeking. Using the Czech and Slovak cases as a quasi-experiment, I compare individuals’ information-seeking strategies in the context of differing media environments consisting of private, public and international media as sources of information. In doing so, this paper is an attempt to link these findings to a growing body of political communications research. The findings suggest that individuals do use media in transition to stay informed on politics and that the privatization of media institutions has in fact be more detrimental to this process than contributory.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The following study utilizes data from the High School and Beyond Study in order to predict mathematics achievement using both student characteristics and school level characteristics. Utilizing Hierarchical Linear Modeling, this study extends the body of literature by exploring how race, socio-economic status, and gender, as well as the percentage of minority students in a school, whether or not the school is Catholic, the proportion of students in the academic track, and the mean socioeconomic status of the school all affect mathematics achievement. Through this methodology, it was possible to see the direct effects of both student level and school level variables on achievement, as well as the cross-level interaction of all of these variables. Findings suggest that there are discrepancies in how different types of students achieve, as well as how those students achieve in varying contexts. Many of the variables were statistically significant in their effect on mathematics achievement. Implications for this research are discussed and considerations for future research are presented.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In previous school-level analyses of the data from the National Study of Delinquency Prevention in Schools (Gottfredson, Gottfredson, Payne, and Gottfredson, 2002), we demonstrated that school climate factors explain a substantial percentage of the variance in measures of school disorder, controlling for the effects of community characteristics and school student composition. Specifically, schools in which students (on average) perceive greater fairness and clarity of rules have less delinquent behavior and less student victimization. Schools with more positive psycho-social climates have less teacher victimization, but these climate factors do not influence student reports of victimization or delinquent behavior. This paper extends this earlier work by applying multi-level modeling to the same data to test the extent to which the previously-observed school climate effects on problem behavior are mediated through individual-level measures of social bonding. Cross-level interactions will also be explored to test whether the influence of bonding on problem behavior varies as a function of school climate.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This research examines both risk and protective factors in the frequency of drug and alcohol use by Alabama public-school students in grades six through twelve. Factors are measured at the individual level and at the county level. The data on both levels were obtained by the Substance Abuse Services Division of the Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. The results of data analysis—comprising hierarchical linear modeling techniques (HLM)—show that, overall, the individual protective factors do reduce student use of alcohol and drugs, controlling for certain risk factors. The county-level structural-disadvantage factor, however, operates in a direction opposite to expectation. According to results, structural disadvantage reduces rather than increases student use of all drugs. The implications of the important role structural variables play in individual drug use are discussed.

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