We have rights too: examining the existence of professional prejudice and discrimination against public relations

This study of a large sample of public relations educators (n = 342) found substantial evidence that professional prejudice and discrimination towards public relations and public relations education exists. More than half (56.6%) of the respondents said they have had a dean, director or department chair who was prejudiced against public relations, and many of these administrators evidently have made use of exaggerations and stereotypes about public relations while criticizing it. Results also suggest this prejudice is more pronounced among print journalists and journalism faculty than it is among other groups of communication educators and practitioners.     

Teachers' and School Children's Stereotypic Perception of the Child of Divorce: 20 Years Later

ABSTRACT

This is a replica of a study carried out in 1988. Its main objective is to reexamine after 20 years how teachers' and 8th-grade students' evaluations of a child's academic, social, and emotional functioning are affected by the knowledge that the child's parents are divorced. One hundred and twenty junior high school students and 115 female teachers watched a specially produced film of a child engaged in various activities. The child's gender and family structure were experimentally manipulated. The main results show that whereas in the earlier study both teachers and the students rated the child of divorce more negatively than the child of an intact family, in this study this was true only for the teachers. These and other results are discussed in the context of cultural attitudes, the more extensive contact teachers have with children of divorce, and the risk that they and their students become trapped in the Pygmalion cycle.     

Sociology in the high school: Perceptions of those who teach it

The following research note reports two major findings of a more detailed study of the opinions, training, and practices of teachers of high school sociology in Texas. Two major findings of interest to the discipline emerge from the research: (1) high school teachers are only marginally prepared in the field of sociology itself; (2) teachers generally give sociology's reputation as a discipline a favorable rating, while at the same time showing concerns about whether or not they would recommend sociology as a college major. The implications of teacher attitudes and training for the discipline are explored.     

Shaping American Higher Education,Logan Wilson. Washington,D.C.: American Council on Education, 1972. 301 Pages, $8.00 Hardbound

Abstract

Social work educators seeking promotion and/or tenure must demonstrate achievement in the area of productive scholarship. Judgments are made by administrators regarding the quantity and quality of a candidate's record of publication. We surveyed deans of graduate programs to ascertain the importance of various factors in their quality assessment of a journal article or book publication. The findings are presented and discussed.     

Mexican American Challenge to a Sacred Cow,by Deluvina Hernandez. Aztlan Publications,Chicano Studies Center,University of California,Los Angeles, 1970. 60 Pages

This study explored the attitudes of MSW students (N?=?147) toward transracial adoption and included an investigation of the students' personal experiences that may affect their attitudes. Statistical analyses revealed that although the majority of students supported the practice of transracial adoption, a number of students gave neutral responses to several items related to transracially adopted children's ethnic identity, likely indicating a lack of awareness of the consequences of transracial adoption. White students were more likely than students of other racial groups to support the practice of transracial adoption. Personal experiences, such as dating interracially and supporting interracial dating, appeared to affect students' attitudes toward transracial adoption. Limitations and implications for social work education and research are discussed.     

Student Acceptance of a Multicultural Education

Abstract

While the virtues of a multicultural education are debated in the general US populace, most social work educators and organizations have embraced such an approach. Subsequently, social work journals have offered numerous essays on multicultural teaching techniques. Yet, these same journals have rarely explored the multicultural attitudes of social work students. To fill this gap, this paper empirically explores the ways in which BSW students accept or reject some multicultural goals. To do so, close-ended surveys were distributed to 437 undergraduates. After describing their responses to the authors' multicultural index, the project explores the survey results via demographic, social-psychological, and educational variables. With the assistance of a multiple regression, this project suggests that student acceptance of multiculturalism is swayed by the matters of gender and their stances on White privilege and institutional racism. However, student perceptions do not seem static since students become more positive toward a multicultural education after they have initiated interracial exchanges and completed a social diversity class.     

Same‐Ethnic,Interethnic, and Interracial Friendships Among Asian Early Adolescents

This study examined the psychological functions of three friendship types (i.e., same ethnic, interethnic, and interracial) in a sample of 785 sixth‐grade Asian students (M_age = 11.5 years). Participants listed their friends in sixth grade and whether each nominated friend was the same or a different ethnic group. They also reported on their ethnic identity, intergroup relations, and perceived school safety. Results showed that same‐ethnic friendships were related to stronger ethnic identity and interracial friendships were uniquely related to school safety. Interethnic friendships (an Asian friend from a different country of origin) when perceived as same ethnic functioned similarly to same‐ethnic friendships, whereas interethnic friendships perceived as from a different ethnic group, like interracial friendships, were associated with better intergroup relations. Implications for studying friendships in ethnically diverse samples are discussed.     

Attitudes Toward Gay Men and Lesbians and Their Relationship with Gender Role Beliefs in a Sample of Chilean University Students

ABSTRACT. This paper analyzes the relation between gender role beliefs and prejudice toward gay men and lesbians in Chile. Participants were Chilean university students (N = 283). Results indicate that men are more prejudiced than women and religious people are more prejudiced than non-religious people. On the other hand, gender role beliefs mediate sex differences in prejudice. The participants' more traditional gender role beliefs hold more negative attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. Men are more prejudiced than women, particularly in their attitudes toward gay men. In addition, sex differences in attitudes toward lesbians and gay men are mediated by gender role beliefs.     

The Transition to High School

Abstract

This study investigates teacher reports of their communication and relationships with parents over the transition to high school in a large, urban, and predominantly minority school district. Hierarchical linear modeling techniques were used to estimate elementary (n = 10,237) and high school (n = 3,140) teachers' outreach to and trust of parents, controlling for their background and school compositional characteristics. Teachers with more negative attitudes about student learning capacities and non-White teachers reported less communication and less positive relationships with parents. Teachers in high schools with predominantly Latino student bodies reported less communication and less positive relationships with parents, while this was not true for teachers in elementary schools. Implications for school practice and policy are discussed.     

How School Environments Contribute to Violent Behavior in Youth

Abstract

Schools are not perceived as safe havens. Students, school administrators, teachers, and parents recognize the school environment as a place where victimization occurs-often. This perception elicits fear and the devastating consequences of withdrawal, defending, and the stress/trauma response in students and school staff. Schools must understand the association between victimization and violent behaviors relating to the perceived stress/trauma response. Schools must also understand that reactive and punitive responses do not eliminate the common forms of victimization that erode the school's milieu and function. Schools must maintain self-examination regarding their contribution to their violent environments and engage in active efforts of reorganization and definition of purpose.     

Teacher Outcomes from the Second Step Child Protection Unit: Moderating Roles of Prior Preparedness,and Treatment Acceptability

ABSTRACT

Teachers play a critical role in child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention and intervention efforts. We examined the impact of the Second Step Child Protection Unit (CPU) on improving teacher awareness, attitudes, and teacher–student relations for 161 teachers. Teacher baseline scores and treatment acceptability were examined as moderators. Structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed a significant effect of the CPU on teachers’ awareness, attitudes, and teacher–student relations, particularly for teachers with lower prior knowledge, attitudes, and student relationships. Teachers’ acceptability of the CPU also moderated outcomes, where a higher level of acceptability of CSA interventions was associated with an increase in outcomes.     

Health Care Professionals' Experience,Knowledge, and Attitudes Concerning Homosexuality

The purpose of this study was to examine the experience with attitudes towards, and knowledge about homosexuality of three groups of health care professionals. Subjects were 97 registeres nurses, social workers, and psychologists who responded to a six-page mailed questionnaire. Professional discipline of the subject, gender of the client, and gender of the client's lover in a fictitious scenario did not significantly affect ratings or suggested diagnoses of the client. Most subjects felt that they needed moer training in working with homosexual clients, which was consistent with their high but not perfect scores on a knowledge test. Subject's mean scores of the Attitudes Toward Lesbians (ATL) and Gay Men (ATGM) scales of Herek (1998) reflected significantly less prejudice than his college samples. More knowledgeable respondents were less prejudiced and had more positive attitudes about working with gay and lesbian clients; those with more positive attitudes toward clients also showed less prejudice on the ATL and ATGM scales. The authors argue that training health care professionals to be more knowledgeable about gay and lesbian issues would lead to more positive attitudes and better services for gay and lesbian clients.     

Gender differences among Czech youth in prejudice towards minorities

Using a large survey of Czech high school students (n?=?1103), aged 15–20 years, this paper explores youth prejudice to a wide range of minority groups (n?=?21) where family, school, and community contexts are taken into account. General Structural Equation Models are used to explore the determinants of prejudice for 21 minorities using a comparative explanatory framework where the focus is gender differences in prejudice to minorities are examined using three social theories: Social Dominance Theory (SDT), the Theory of Gendered Prejudice (TGP), and Gender Role Beliefs (GRB). This research shows that gender plays a strong role in expressing prejudiced attitudes where females express (a) less prejudiced attitudes toward the Roma, black Africans, Gays and those with mental or physical disabilities, and (b) more prejudiced attitudes towards the homeless, Vietnamese, Muslims, and lesbians. This gendered pattern is explained in terms of insights from SDT, TGP, and GRB.     

Social workers as teacher consultants: Helping teachers in groups to meet special needs in ordinary schools

Abstract

The paper argues in favour of school-based consultation for teachers by psychodynamically informed social workers, in the light of increasing awareness and demands that every teacher should become able to respond appropriately to the many children in ordinary classrooms deemed to be in need of special understanding at some stage during their school career. The paper tries to show that to enable them to help children with special emotional difficulties in school, teachers need access to some of the expertise, principles and practices with which professionals outside the school system manage to meet such children's special needs; and that the skills and understanding of social workers would appear to be well adaptable to the requirements of such inter-professional consultancy, provided some basic conditions are understood. These conditions are highlighted, and illustrated by a case discussion.     

The immigrant experience: Houstonians’ family attitudes and behaviors

ABSTRACT

Although there is extensive scholarship that examines differences in family behaviors and attitudes between whites and blacks, there are very few studies that examine these differences across whites, blacks, Latinos, and Asians in the United States. In the current study, we do so by examining data from the 2011 Houston Area Survey. We explore Houstonians’ likelihood of engaging in interracial relationships, attitudes toward working mothers, and attitudes toward same-sex marriage. Houston was selected as the target of the study given its rise as the most racially and ethnically diverse metropolitan area in the nation. Non-white Houstonians are more likely to date members of other racial/ethnic groups. With regard to attitudes toward working mothers, only Latino and Asian immigrants hold less accepting views than whites. Finally, the results with regard to same-sex marriage equality suggest that increased migration and diversity within Houston could hasten social change and acceptance.     

“Teachers think the kids around here,don't really want to learn”: Street-identified black men and women's attitudes toward teachers and schooling

This street participatory action research project explored the reflective schooling experiences of street identified Black men and women (ages 18–35) in two small low-income neighborhoods. Secondary analysis of survey (N = 520) and interview (N = 46) data examined: (1) How are attitudes toward schooling and teachers affected by race, gender and age?; and (2) How do students utilize a street-identity as a site of resilience inside schools? Overall, street-identified study participants held positive attitudes toward schooling, but generally performed poorly in schools and had negative experiences with educators. No significance was found as a function of gender and age regarding attitudes toward schooling and attitudes toward teachers. Also, interview results, across gender and age, suggest school-related structural challenges and poor teacher-student relationships contributed to severe conflict between students and teachers; and between students. Interviewees argued some Black students internalized a street identity or became disruptive and even engaged in school violence as a protective mechanism to endure hostile schooling environments. Moreover, Street PAR is discussed as a method and intervention to improve student performance and resolve concerns between students and educators.     

Increased Family Involvement in School Predicts Improved Child–Teacher Relationships and Feelings About School for Low-Income Children

ABSTRACT

Family involvement in school, children's relationships with their teachers, and children's feelings about school were examined longitudinally from kindergarten through fifth grade for an ethnically diverse, low-income sample (N = 329). Within-families analyses indicated that changes in family involvement in school were directly associated with changes in children's relationships with their teachers and indirectly associated with changes in children's feelings about school, with student–teacher relationships mediating this latter association. Increases in family involvement in school predicted improvements in student–teacher relationships, and, in turn, these improvements in student–teacher relationships predicted improvements in children's perceptions of competency in literacy and mathematics as well as improvements in children's attitudes toward school, more generally. These results are consistent with systems theories of child development and help answer why family educational involvement matters for low-income children. This research was supported by a grant to the authors from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (5R03HD052858-02). Principal investigators of the School Transitions Study were Deborah Stipek, Heather Weiss, Penny Hauser-Cram, Walter Secada, and Jennifer Greene, who were supported in part by grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Foundation for Child Development, and the William T. Grant Foundation.     

School-Based Intergenerational Programs

Abstract

This paper focuses on experiences learned from being involved in the development of a sustainable school-based intergenerational program that simultaneously incorporated lifespan education into a Grade 2-3-4 curriculum. The program operated in an Australian primary school. A model was developed through this initiative that involved a tripartite collaborative partnership between school, university educators, and the primary school community (in particular its older adults). Older adult volunteers from the school's community were invited to teach students. Program monitoring consisted of contextual and observational analysis ensuring the program was sensitive to school culture and took account of participants' experiences. This monitoring process occurred throughout the planning, development, and implementation stages. Although school educators were always pressed for time, all participants actively contributed to the program. All of the educators saw purpose and worth in having the program. Ongoing support from teachers, the principal, and university personnel plus the provision of additional resources contributed to high student involvement and the overall success of the initiative. Having a school-based coordinator was found to be necessary, yet, for school educators, problematic because of constraints on their time. The findings from this project indicate that the older adult volunteers were enriched by their involvement in the program and able to provide meaningful learning experiences for students. As well, the study suggests that educators would be better prepared for implementing this area of learning opportunities if lifespan education were provided in their undergraduate and post-graduate courses as well as in professional development initiatives.     

How do others influence our attitudes? Analysis of the primus inter pares effect and mediating variables associated with this process / ¿Cómo influyen los otros en nuestras actitudes? Análisis del efecto primus inter pares y variables mediadoras asociadas a ese proceso

The study examines whether there is a primus inter pares effect in the domain of prejudiced attitudes, where there is hardly any information on this effect. It also explores the relationship between the prejudiced attitudes perceived in others and one’s own and how this relationship influences our general prejudice. To do so, we compared two opposite hypotheses in two studies. The assimilation hypothesis suggests that attitudes perceived in others influence our own attitudes and our general prejudice. The social projection hypothesis claims that our attitudes influence the attitudes we perceive in others, and consequently our prejudice. A total of 243 students in compulsory secondary education participated in the first study, in which the attitudes towards fat¹1. While ‘fat’ is generally not a socially acceptable term in English, particularly in academic discourse, the authors of this article have suggest that ‘fat’ be used in the English translation for the sake of clarity and accuracy, because in Spanish the word gordo/a (‘fat’) was used precisely because the study was on prejudices.View all notes people were measured. In the second study, 442 psychology students participated, and we measured their attitudes towards Moroccan immigrants. In both studies, participants considered themselves less prejudiced than others, and their own attitudes mediated the relationship between the attitudes perceived in others and their general prejudice.