Home Economics Research Journal最新文献

Current receptivity of seventh-and eighth-grade home economics teachers and supervisors in New York State to the four modules of the Home and Career Skills curriculum was investigated in relation to level of curriculum implementation and to perceived risks and/or benefits to status perquisites. Giacquinta's (1975a) status-risk theory of receptivity provides the theoretical framework for data analysis. Usable responses represented 82% (n = 280) of the population surveyed. The study found that both teachers and supervisors were highly receptive to the four modules of the Home and Career Skills curriculum and that there was a high level of implementation of the four curriculum modules. Receptivity was also shown to be related to the teachers' and supervisors' perception of status perquisite benefits. The major benefits perceived were self-esteem or competence, increased in-service education (training), availability of resources, confidence as an educator, and job security. The authors find that the status-risk theory of receptivity is an example of theories that could contribute to a better understanding of curriculum change in home economics and should be used in future studies.

A two-step model was employed using data from the 1986 Survey of Consumer Finances to determine the socioeconomic factors predicting female baby boomer labor force participation and for those who are employed, how the socioeconomic factors influence earned income. Logistic regression indicated that children and other income within the household both negatively affect market participation by female members of the baby boom generation. Divorce and education were positively correlated with female baby boomer employment. For female baby boomers who were employed, additional income and children reduced earnings in a multiple regression analysis. A prior divorce and education were positively correlated with female baby boomer earnings. Findings indicated that the influential factors on labor force participation and consequent earnings are not only identical but are also consistent with those for prior generations of women.

The purpose of this study was to develop a residential quality index and to test its relationship to residential satisfaction. Factors representing 7 dimensions of residential quality were identified as indexes by using principal component factor analysis. Those factors included environmental safety, planning/landscaping, housing policy, sociocultural environment, public services, housing economics, and physical quality of housing. Of the 7 quality dimensions explored, 5 residential quality indexes-environmental safety, planning/landscaping, housing policy, sociocultural environment, and physical quality of housing-were indicated as significant factors in residential satisfaction.

This study sought to determine what Chinese urban parents perceived as their strengths and needs in rearing “only” children. The Parental Strengths and Needs Inventory was administered to a sample of 208 workers in the Special Iron & Steel Company in Beijing, China, who were parents of only children from ages 6–13. Sixty Likert-type questions served to identify strengths and needs in 6 sub-areas: parent satisfaction, parent success, home teaching, parent difficulty, parent frustration, and information needs. The overwhelming majority of urban parents of only children reported that they possessed strengths in child rearing. However, the Chinese parents perceived differential strengths and needs in child rearing related to gender of parents (e.g., doing a good job as caregiver, letting the child enjoy free time) and gender of child (e.g., watching the development of self-confidence, overall parent frustration). Four conclusions were drawn from this study: (a) Parents perceived themselves to have strengths in only-child rearing; (b) mothers perceived themselves as more successful than fathers in only-child rearing; (c) parents of sons reported more child rearing frustrations and difficulties than parents of daughters; and (d) there appeared to be a cross-sex relationship (father-daughter; mother-son) in some areas of only-child rearing, particularly home teaching.

A telephone survey of a random sample of adult Nebraskans was conducted to identify the vegetables they consumed and the methods they used to cook these vegetables. Subjects were called in the evening after the last meal of the day, and were asked to respond to questions about the vegetables they had eaten that day. Results indicated 15% of the 538 respondents did not eat a vegetable on the day they were contacted, 26% ate 1 vegetable, 25% ate 2 vegetables, and 34% ate 3 or more vegetables. Mean vegetable consumption was 2.2 vegetables per person per day. Twenty-one different vegetables were eaten and 4 of these, potatoes, lettuce, carrots, and tomatoes, accounted for 48% of vegetables consumed. One third of the vegetables were eaten raw. When they were cooked, the cookery method used most often was on the stove top (i.e., boiling). This method was used more than twice as often as the microwave for cooking vegetables. Results of this survey indicate that nutrition education programs need to encourage increased vegetable consumption and the use of vegetable cookery methods that maximize nutrient retention.

The authors used categorization theory to guide research on apparel quality. Respondents were females, 150 students and 55 nonstudent adults, who wrote at least three sentences about the quality of (a) apparel and (b) a blouse. Using content analysis, four classifications were formed to describe the criteria attributes: aesthetic (e.g., stylish), usefulness (e.g., versatile), performance (e.g., does not shrink), and extrinsic criteria (e.g., brand name). Aesthetic and performance criteria accounted for 81% to 83% of criteria mentioned. When the data were pooled, respondents generated more criteria to classify blouse quality than to classify apparel quality. Furthermore, criteria for blouse quality were mentioned more often than criteria for apparel quality suggesting that, at the aggregate level, respondents used blouse quality as a basic level category. However when data were analyzed separately by consumer experience (e.g., age), differences in categorization schemes were found. These results have implications for merchandising strategies that focus on quality.

A matrix was developed to provide a framework to organize information and compare the relative cost in monetary and human resources of owning and using traditional and innovative residential major cooking appliances. Laboratory data collected by the first author and by other university researchers with the same five types of cook tops and a microwave oven were analyzed with ANOVA, Student-Newman-Keuls, and Tukey's HDS procedures. Data were then used to complete the matrix comprising monetary and human resource dimensions thought to contribute to the total cost of ownership and use. Each dimension was assigned a weight to represent its level of importance to consumers. Based on the data, appliances were ranked high, medium, or low on each dimension of the matrix, and a total score was developed for each appliance. The microwave oven received the highest score, followed in order by cooktops with conventional gas burners, conventional electric coils, solid elements, and induction elements. Additional work is needed to refine data collection techniques, to expand the data set to include all types of major appliances currently available for surface cooking, and to validate the content and weights of the matrix.

Assessing satisfaction with housing is an essential tool in designing residential structures and shaping housing policy. Numerous studies have examined differences between demographic characteristics and housing satisfaction, with overwhelming evidence that age is a significant variable. However, explanations for these differences have not been sufficiently addressed. This study attempts to define age-related life cycle differences in relation to housing satisfaction of a rural sample. A mailed questionnaire was used to collect data from a random sample of 1,645 rural households in two southern states. The instrument elicited respondents' demographic characteristics, housing satisfaction, and housing values. Findings indicate significant differences in housing satisfaction among four life cycle groups with elderly respondents being most satisfied and baby boomers being least satisfied. Significant differences in other demographic characteristics and housing values were also found. An important conclusion is that rural communities need to provide a variety of housing options and programs to support diverse life cycle groups.

A single-equation import demand model was developed to estimate U.S. demand for apparel imports from developed and developing countries. Separate analyses were done for each region usingannualdatafrom 1974 to 1988. The independent variables were U.S. apparel expenditures, prices of apparel imports relative to domestic prices, and trend. They had a significant impact on apparel imports in most instances. The own-price elasticities of demandfor imports varied by import source. They rangedfrom −0.61 to −0.81for the developing countries andfrom −2.35 to −2.57for the developed countries. In contrast, expenditure elasticities were greater than unity for both regions. The sign of the coefficient of the trend variable was positive for developed countries, whereas it was negative for developing countries, which is consistent with the implementation of the Multifiber Arrangement.

This article reports 870 titles of theses and dissertations completed in 1992 in colleges and universities throughout the United States. The seven tables illustrate information about graduate research in the human-related sciences. These tables summarize the information by institution, subject matter, ranking of institutions, degree, and leading subject matter area for the years 1987 to 1992.