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New Mexico State University

Hot Stuff, Fall/Winter 1997

The following "Hot Stuff" articles appeared in the Fall/Winter 1997 issue of New Mexico Resources:

[Dressed for Success] Dressed for Success?

A line of Loma Heights Elementary School third graders waiting their turn to be excused for recess is like any other group of students. There's giggling, whispered play plans and a teacher trying to keep things quiet. The difference is that these kids are uniformly dressed in combinations of blue and white.

This fall, 13 of the 28 elementary and middle schools in the Las Cruces area began uniformly dressed programs that require students to dress according to a set of guidelines. Administrators say the new policy will reduce gang violence, bridge socioeconomic differences and help students focus on learning.

Jane Hegland, assistant professor of clothing, textiles and fashion merchandising at NMSU, hopes they're right. But she's planning her own research project to test the theory.

"The effects of uniform dress codes on disciplinary problems are preliminary since no formal studies have been done," says Hegland, who did her doctoral dissertation on links between dress and behavior.

During the next four years, she will gather information from students, parents, community leaders, educators and school administrators to determine whether the dress code is successful.

Proponents for a uniform dress code suggest that uniforms eliminate gang identification, conceal socioeconomic status and promote school spirit. Uniforms also may be less costly than trendy fashions.

However, others say uniforms restrict children's rights to individual expression and may even create a prison-like environment that is counterproductive to learning. Hegland also suggests that parents may actually pay more for their children's clothes because they will need two wardrobes: one for school and one for after school.

"The way people dress is their first form of communication with others," she says. "From the first, nonverbal encounter with an individual, others can detect such things as occupation, lifestyle, religious affiliation, social status, ethnicity, race and gender."

Hegland thinks youth will express their status even in the most restrictive dress codes and that changing what students wear may not necessarily change the way they act in social settings.


[Craft Time] Positive Parenting

When an 8-year-old boy wants to try his hand at whittling some wood with a knife, parents from different cultures may have different reactions.

A Mexican-American parent may not allow it, thinking that using a knife is too dangerous, and the child should be protected. An Anglo parent may set up some rules about when and how the child can use the knife, thinking the activity requires some supervision. A Native American parent may not interfere at all, thinking the child has learned how to use a knife safely by watching others in the past.

Esther Devall, a family scientist with NMSU's Agricultural Experiment Station, studies how parents from different cultural groups handle such situations with their kids.

"I'm looking at parenting and child behavior of the three prominent cultures in New Mexico," Devall says. "I'm trying to find out what the strengths are of each group."

In the past, she says, parenting has been evaluated according to the Anglo model of how competitive and independent children turn out to be.

"I think we need to look closer at parenting in the Mexican-American and Native American cultures to see what they do to teach cooperation and build close family ties," Devall says. "I want to know what are some things they do differently that are associated with good outcomes for children."

She says the values, beliefs and expectations about how to raise children are very different among the three groups. She quickly points out, however, that making cultural generalizations doesn't tell the whole story. Families can be different, even when they share the same cultural background.

In relationships with others, Anglo-Americans tend to stress the importance of the individual; Mexican-Americans often stress the needs of the family over the individual; and Native Americans tend to consider the needs of the tribe before those of the individual.

These cultural differences can lead to different ways of parenting. In her study, Devall is surveying parents in all three groups and their elementary-age children to find out what parenting qualities give children social and emotional skills.


Taking the Fat Out of Food Myths

Many Americans eat margarine instead of butter because they believe it's less fattening. But gram for gram, both fat sources have the same number of calories.

A recent research project revealed that people still have much to learn about fat and fiber, says Ann Bock, nutrition scientist with NMSU's Agricultural Experiment Station. The collaborative study by several universities surveyed more than 3,000 adults in 10 states and Washington, D.C.

"We wanted to find out what people know about the health risks related to fat and fiber, and what they were actually doing to reduce fat and get more fiber in their diets," Bock says. "People knew they should lower saturated fat in their diets, but they didn't have any in-depth knowledge about how to do it."

They knew that fat relates to heart disease, but they didn't know that high-fiber diets can help lower the risks of developing certain kinds of cancer.

People also need to get past myths like butter being different from margarine, Bock says.

"Margarine starts as an oil and is turned into a solid," she says. "When an oil is made into a solid, the chemical process causes trans-fatty acids to develop. We're beginning to realize that trans-fatty acids may not be desirable in the diet. And butter doesn't have trans-fatty acids."

Educational materials about fat and fiber should be written at a low literacy level, so they're more understandable, Bock says.

One approach would be to develop more educational materials that take into account culturally relevant diets. NMSU's Cooperative Extension Service has many projects that teach people about nutrition, Bock says.

In one project, elderly Native Americans learned how to make red enchiladas without lard by softening tortillas in enchilada sauce and making refried beans with broth and spices.

"This type of food preparation reduces risks related to obesity, and development of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer," she says.