ANALYSIS OF THE STRENGTH AND INFLUENCE OF DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS IN DETERMINING CONVERT BAPTISM RATES IN LDS MISSIONS

by

Darin G. Clay and Dr. Mark Showalter, Economics It is a well-known fact that the success of the missionary effort of the Church is highly correlated with economic prosperity. Specifically, the convert baptism rates are higher in less prosperous nations than in relatively wealthy nations. Opponents of the Church have cited this fact in support […]

CHILDREN AND THEIR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION IN UTAH AND ALBERTA

by

David E. Campbell, Drs. David Magleby and Stan A. Taylor, Political Science In the 1960s and 1950s, there was a flurry of research into children’s political socialization6what children know, and feel, about their political system and leaders and when they come to know, and feel, it. At the time, political scientists and developmental psychologists concluded […]

Mythogony (the Creation of Myth): A Comparative Religion Study of Sai Culture

by

St. Shane Sanders and Dr. Lanier Britsch, History The scope of my research was the analysis of a syncretic paradigm extending from east to west. India houses the three major ashram(a)s of a new religious movement and sub-culture, united by a mythological belief in their guru, Swami Sathya Sai Baba. The village born guru boasts […]

The Ethnophysiologocial Janus: Changing Perceptions of Illness and Curing in the Guatemalan Mayan Highlands

by

Steven Shem Rode and Dr. John P. Hawkins, Anthropology Ethnomedical literature rarely addresses the problem of how illness is recognized and understood among Nahualenos in southwest Guatemala. In that area of the world, mother/infant mortality rates remain high, and local perceptions of illness continue to bewilder western biomedical caregivers. This study investigates data collected from […]

SIBLINGS OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS: UPLIFTS, COPING, AND STRESSORS

by

Jesse A. Bingham and Melinda Buchanan and Drs. Susanne F. Olsen and Elaine S. Sorensen, Family Science When a family includes one or more children with special needs every family member is affected by the challenges related to that chronic disability. In the past, research has focused on the child and his or her disability […]

CARTOGRAPHIC RELATIONSHIP TO XENOPHOBIA

by

Gerilyn Beck, Geography A form of deceptive information is concealed in our midst-one all the more malignant, for the ignorance of its audience leaves them vulnerable to a pervasive persuasion. I am speaking of cartographic display, a little understood and highly available transmitter of information that we accept trustfully. I have focused on the cartographic […]