Evaluation of the What's Real: Myths & Facts about Marriage Curriculum: Differential Impacts of Gender*

ABSTRACT

What’s Real is a high school marriage education curriculum designed to teach students how to develop healthy relationships and marriages. This study evaluated the effectiveness of this curriculum with 206 high school students who were in either the What’s Real group or a control group. Findings suggest that the curriculum increases knowledge of healthy relationship concepts, positively impacts attitudes related to students’ willingness to be involved in pre- and postmarital counseling, and increases students’ attitudes toward cohabitation avoidance. Implications for further development of the curriculum and other implications for practitioners and policymakers are discussed.     

Perceived Norms and Alcohol Consumption: Differences Between College Students From Rural and Urban High Schools

Objective: The authors examined perceived norms and drinking among college students who attended high schools in rural and urban communities. Participants and Methods: Undergraduates (99 men and 85 women) who attended high schools in communities with populations ranging from less than 100 to more than 400,000 completed surveys assessing perceived norms and alcohol consumption. Results: Analyses revealed that students from smaller towns and in smaller high school graduating classes reported heavier drinking and that perceived norms were positively associated with drinking. Perceived norms were unrelated to population variables, and the relationship between perceived norms and drinking did not vary as a function of population variables. Results suggest that differences in drinking as a function of coming from more rural areas contribute to drinking behavior in college independently of perceived norms. Conclusions: College students may adjust to campus drinking norms relatively quickly, and longitudinal research would be useful in understanding this transition.     

Adolescent’s Perceptions of Sexual Relationships Between Students and Teachers

ABSTRACT

Very little is known about how people perceive and respond to sexual relationships between students and teachers, and even less is known about how adolescents view these relationships. In this study, a large sample of high school students (N = 1203; Mean age: 16.83) responded to four scenarios describing a sexual relationship between a student and teacher. We manipulated student and teacher age, and the power differential between the student and teacher and we measured perceptions of wrongness and likelihood of reporting the situation. The data indicated that in situations of older students (18 vs. 14 or 16) and younger teachers (21 vs 30 or 40), they are less likely to be perceived as wrong and less likely to be reported. Likewise, situations were judged as more wrong when the power differential between students and teachers was greater. Further, there were strong gender differences, such that females (vs. males) consistently viewed the situations as more wrong and were more likely to report. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.     

Latina Students

SUMMARY

Latina students have the highest high school dropout rate of all racial and ethnic groups. This article has three objectives: provide a brief overview of educational trends for Latina students, discuss factors associated with their educational trajectory and suggest strategies for change based on best practice wisdom. Results show that academic disparities between Latina students and other racial/ethnic female students begin as early as kindergarten and remain through age 17; achievement is compromised by a variety of factors, including family responsibilities, family poverty, lack of participation in preschool, attendance at poor quality elementary and high schools, placement into lower-track classes, poor self-image, limited neighborhood resources, lack of presence of role models and gender role attitudes. These disparities contribute to psychosocial issues and are not directly associated with Latino cultural assets, as Latino cultural capital has not been easily translated into social capital in U.S. society. Economic and social change must precede educational change if academic disparities between Latinas and other racial and ethnic girls are to be decreased.     

Adolescent American Sex

SUMMARY

Though there has been a decline in the percentage of sexually active high school students in the past decade in the United States, the rate of adolescents engaging in sexual behavior leading to orgasm has actually increased. Such orgasms are achieved without penetration and penetration is how most American adolescents define sex. Most adolescent sex also occurs within intimate relationships with partners at or near their own age but definitions of what constitutes intimacy is different than in the past. Sexuality is very important in the life of adolescents in the United States, and sexual activity broadly defined begins fairly early among teenagers although actual sexual intercourse usually takes place much later.     

Gender and Casual Sexual Activity From Adolescence to Emerging Adulthood: Social and Life Course Correlates

The prevalence of casual sexual activity among teens and emerging adults has led to much public attention. Yet limited research has investigated whether the number of casual sexual partners per year changes as heterosexual men and women transition from adolescence into emerging adulthood. We considered the influence of social context and life course factors on the number of casual sex partners. We examined four waves of interviews from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS) and used negative binomial growth curve models to investigate patterns of change in the number of casual sex partners (N = 1,196) ages 15 to 22. Men and women both reported increases in the number of casual sex partners over time and did not differ from each other in the rate of change over time. In all, 40% of respondents reported a recent casual sex partner at age 22. Number of prior dating relationships, education status, substance use, and perceptions of peer sexual behavior significantly influenced the number of casual sex partners. Emerging adults who did not complete high school, compared to those enrolled in four-year degree programs, reported significantly more partners. The findings contribute to research on intimate relationships and provide insights for programs targeting emerging adults.     

The elements of social capital in the context of six high schools

Purpose: The study described in this paper is part of a larger research project entitled, “Social Capital and Its Effects on the Academic Development of Adolescents At Risk of Educational Failure.” We drew the data for this study from in-depth case studies of six United States public and private secondary schools. We selected the schools based on two criteria: (1) they enrolled substantial proportions of students who would be considered to be at risk of educational failure due to their academic status, social background, or geographical location; and (2) they had qualities that led us to believe that the probability of finding school-based forms of social capital would be high. In selecting schools, we sought variation among settings, selecting case-study sites that allowed us to learn about how schools create and sustain social capital supportive of the academic development of students, particularly students characterized as at risk of failure.Background: In the first part of the larger research project, we used quantitative methods and a large, nationally representative sample of U.S. secondary schools and students. In that study, we documented the existence of a relationship between school-based social capital and such student outcomes as positive academic behaviors, achievement growth over the secondary years, and the probability of dropping out of high school. We operationalized the construct of social capital with two measures of the quality of students’ relationships with their teachers—the extent to which students saw their teachers as supportive and whether students sought guidance from their teachers outside of class. We believed, however, that school-based forms of social capital are more varied and complex than this. Moreover, we thought that it was important to examine in greater detail how social capital itself varies with the organizational and structural characteristics of high schools. Therefore, we embarked on a second phase of our study in which we relied on qualitative methods: specifically, the in-depth investigation of a small set of high schools thought to have social capital but exhibiting important variation on organizational and structural characteristics. Within these schools, we used field-based methods to examine social capital and students’ access to it.Methods: In general, we asked, “What does social capital look like in the six high schools that we studied?” “Do the quality or characteristic of social capital depend on a school’s student body composition, its programs and policies, or the ideologies and traditions that underlie its operation?” “If so, how do these factors influence the quality of school-based social capital that students have access to in a school?” “Are characteristics or elements of social capital especially prevalent or dominant in certain types of schools?” “Which types of schools, given our case-study sites?” “What do the results of these investigations tell us about the nature of social capital—its creation, maintenance, and usefulness to students and teachers in high schools?”Results: Our analyses of interview data and field notes suggest that school-based forms of social capital may be viewed from six different perspectives. These perspectives, which we refer to as elements of social capital in our paper, are:

• 1. Volition and perceived interest in membership. What are the opportunities that individuals have, both in terms of choices between schools and choice of programs within schools, to affiliate with others based on their interests? These choices may strengthen social capital within groups but weaken social capital between groups that comprise a school and its adjacent community.
• 2. Location and integration of social capital across social relationship networks. Where is social capital located in a school? Although we see the primary location for social capital to be between students and teachers, other networks of relationships also influence the extent to which students can gain access to social capital through teachers (e.g., teacher-to-teacher relationships or teacher-to-parent relationships). Integration across these relationships facilitates the formation of new relationships, trust building, and flows of information.
• 3. Impetus for social capital. What are the reasons that people seek to form supportive, collaborative relationships within schools? Such reasons may be individual or organizational, we argue. Nonetheless, social capital is most powerful when the impetus for its creation and maintenance coincide—that is, when organizational factors reinforce personal inclinations, perceived interest, and a sense of community.
• 4. Formation and stock of social capital. How much effort is required to create social capital? Social capital may occur naturally, as in small, rural schools, or it may require substantial effort and purposeful actions, as in large, urban schools. Natural forms of social capital may have negative consequences if they restrict exchanges with external groups to an extent that academic development is curtailed. Purposeful forms may also have negative consequences, if too much effort is required to create and sustain social capital, drawing deeply on already scarce resources.
• 5. Focus and quality of social capital. How is social capital used in a school? Social capital may be used for many different purposes, not all of which promote academic development. Social capital may be used to primarily promote social goals or ends, or even to undermine students’ development and a school’s academic mission. Differences in interest between school members diminish the focus of social capital, weaken its utility for academic purposes, and can create conflicts over its use and function.
• 6. Norms and social control. Do school norms and sanctions promote positive expectations and interactions between members of a school? Behavioral expectations and official actions are an important element of school-based forms of social capital. Over reliance on sanctions can undermine trust, just as does failure to sanction significant violation of rules. The consequences, norms, and sanctions for social capital depends on how much socialization is required to comply with norms, the perceived fairness of norms and sanctions, and the costs and benefits associated with compliance.
• 7. Conclusion: Using these conceptual lenses, we examine how social capital takes shape and is used in six different high schools. We provide examples of how each of the above six elements helps to understand the quality of interactions between students and teachers, as well as the educational environment in which students’ academic development takes place. In concluding the paper, we argue that social capital is a complex yet useful construct for examining the operation of high schools and the academic development of the students who attend them. Moreover, our examination of six high schools suggests that there can be too much social capital in schools and that social capital is most difficult to nurture in places that need it most. Using our field data, we give examples and provide further explanation for why this is so.

%Rather than provide an in-depth treatment of each element, we have instead attempted to lay the groundwork for deeper study and conceptual development of the notion of social capital in this paper. Each of the elements deserves more careful scrutiny, we believe, especially if we are to weave together in a meaningful fashion the conceptual threads that make social capital such an appealing construct. This initial study reveals some of the richness and complexity of social capital as a construct, as well as the utility of examining it through the six conceptual lenses that we use in this paper.     

Emotional school engagement among minority youth: the relevance of cultural identity,perceived discrimination,and perceived support

ABSTRACT

Minority student school dropout represents a challenging issue for educational systems in many countries. Notwithstanding minority families' overall high academic aspirations, there is a stable achievement gap between majority and minority students. Minority students who are emotionally engaged with their school tend to be psychologically and socioculturally better adapted to their country of residence and, as a result, report higher academic success. Therefore, emotional school engagement represents a relevant factor for integration into the host society. The goal of this paper is to investigate the interrelation between ethnic and national identity, perceived discrimination, and perceived support from parents, peers, and teachers with emotional school engagement. Results indicate that cultural capital within the family, cultural self-identification, and perceived support from peers and teachers play an important role for students’ emotional school engagement.     

Depression Level in Inner-City Asian American Adolescents

Summary

This study examines the effects of cultural orientation and interpersonal relationships on depression among inner-city Asian American adolescents, controlling for demographic variables. Data were obtained from 144 high school students. The mean CES-D was 19.24. Cultural orientation and interpersonal relationships were significant predictors of depression. Individuals who were separated (had a high orientation towards ethnic culture and low orientation towards mainstream culture) experienced greater depression than those who were assimilated (had a high orientation towards American culture and low orientation towards ethnic culture). In addition, the presence of a more positive parent and peer relationship predicted lower depression levels. None of the demographic variables were significant predictors of depression in the overall model, although late immigrants (those who immigrated after the age of 12) were more depressed than American-born adolescents in the bivariate analysis. Implications of findings are discussed.     

Examining Familial-Based Academic Success Factors in Urban High School Students: The Case of Puerto Rican Female High Achievers

ABSTRACT

This article works to dispel the myth that Puerto Rican female urban high school students living in poverty are not capable of performing at high academic levels. This article attempts to counteract these beliefs by describing the four success factors that seven Puerto Rican female high school students attribute to their high academic achievement. These success factors are: (1) religiosity and extracurricular activities as sources of social capital, (2) affirming and maintaining a Puerto Rican identity, (3) maternal influences on students' academic achievement and, (4) the potential for caring teachers and other school staff to influence high academic achievement. Finally, our findings suggest that opportunities for Latinas and other youth of color are still inequitably structured in large, comprehensive high schools. Hence, we argue that schools must continue to bridge the large gap between themselves and the families/communities they serve and utilize the funds of knowledge and social capital that their students already bring to school.     

Relationship intentions,race, and gender: Student differences in condom use during hookups involving vaginal sex

Abstract

Objective: To examine the relationship between race, gender, and pre-hookup relationship intentions and college students’ participation in condomless vaginal sex. Participants: 3,315 Black and White college students who participated in the Online College Social Life Survey (OCSLS). Methods: Secondary data analysis of the OCSLS using Chi-square and multiple logistic regression analyses. Results: The model revealed that students who did not want a relationship with their hookup partners and students unsure of their relationship intentions were more likely to use condoms during their last vaginal hookup. Further, White and Female students were less likely to have used condoms during their last vaginal hookup.

Conclusions: White and female students, as well as students desiring romantic relationships with hookup partners may be at risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) due to decreased condom use. However, more research is needed to explore the factors driving STI disparities facing Black students despite higher condom use.     

Caregiver Engagement in Religious Urban Elementary Schools

ABSTRACT

This article examines how school leaders in a religious school serving traditionally marginalized students improve their school communities through constructing space for caregiver engagement. This study suggests how counter-narratives of critical care can inform social justice leadership in schools. The results, from a case study of a Catholic urban elementary school that uses innovative and effective strategies to engage caregivers, show that educational leaders create spaces for engaging caregivers by developing relationships with them and systematically reducing barriers to their participation in the school community. Analyzing these results through the critical care theory lens illuminates how these spaces value diverse forms of social and cultural capital are strengthened by alliances with nontraditional support structures. This research contributes to our evolving understanding of caregiver engagement by presenting a textured analysis of a case study as viewed through a critical care conceptual framework.     

African American MSW Students: Personal Influences on Social Work Careers and Factors in Graduate School Selection

The research is an empirical examination of who the individuals were that influenced 207 African American respondents to pursue graduate social work education, and what enrollment decision factors (EDFs) led them to select a social work program. Statistically significant relationships between EDFs are also isolated. The purposive sample consisted of MSW graduates from three predominantly White universities in two southeastern states in the United States. Almost 80% were females, the mean age was 44.5 years, and 45% majored in social work as undergraduates. Individuals who reportedly had ‘a great deal of influence’ in their selection of graduate social work education included social work practitioners, family members, and undergraduate professors. The ‘very important’ EDFs included geographical location, type of social work program, class scheduling, and cost of tuition. The strongest EDF correlations were between (1) number of minority students and number of minority faculty (r?=?0.662, p?=?0.000, 0.01 level, 2‐tailed); (2) academic reputation and type of social work program (r?=?0.590, p?=?0.000, 0.01 level, 2‐tailed); and (3) number of minority faculty and school climate toward minorities (r?=?0.523, p?=?0.000, 0.01 level, 2‐tailed). Findings suggest that graduate school recruitment strategies for African Americans and other under‐represented groups should include use of social work practitioners and educators, as well as more informed and deliberate marketing approaches with respect to school curricula and how it translates into future career options.     

Problem drinking among at-risk college students: The examination of Greek involvement,freshman status,and history of mental health problems

ABSTRACT

Objective: Scarce research has examined the combined effect of mental health difficulties and demographic risk factors such as freshman status and Greek affiliation in understanding college problem drinking. The current study is interested in looking at the interaction among freshman status, Greek affiliation, and mental health difficulties. Participants and Methods: Undergraduate students (N = 413) from a private and public Midwestern university completed a large online survey battery between January 2009 and April 2013. Data from both schools were aggregated for the analyses. Results: After accounting for gender, age, and school type, the three-way interaction indicated that the highest drinking levels were reported in freshman students who reported a history of mental health problems although were not involved in Greek life. Conclusions: Findings are discussed in the context of perceived social norms, as well as alcohol-related screenings and intervention opportunities on college campuses.     

How Does High School Extracurricular Participation Predict Bachelor’s Degree Attainment? It is Complicated

This study answered novel questions about the connection between high school extracurricular dosage (number of activities and participation duration) and the attainment of a bachelor’s degree. Using data from the Common Application and the National Student Clearinghouse (N = 311,308), we found that greater extracurricular participation positively predicted bachelor’s degree attainment. However, among students who ultimately earned a bachelor’s degree, participating in more than a moderate number of high school activities (3 or 4) predicted decreasing odds of earning a bachelor’s degree on time (within 4 years). This effect intensified as participation duration increased, such that students who participated in the greatest number of high school activities for the most years were the most likely to delay college graduation.     

Immigration and resiliency: unpacking the experiences of high school students from Cape Verde and Ethiopia

This article explores the complex factors, both individual and social, that contribute to the resiliency and academic achievement of six adolescent African immigrant students from Cape Verde and Ethiopia who were enrolled in a small high school in the United States. The school was designed specifically for recent adolescent immigrant students. Using an in-depth qualitative case study research design, this study provides insight into the educational and social issues confronted by these students and the factors that contributed to their resiliency. The competencies and social capital that students acquired in school and at home were major contributing factors to their resilience and academic achievement. Findings show that these students had a supportive social network of family and friends who had encouraged them to succeed in school and provided mentoring, and material and social resources that helped them to succeed. In addition, teachers encouraged and engaged the students by having high expectations and connecting them to the curriculum in meaningful ways.     

Perceived consequences of hazing exposure during the first year of college: Associations with childhood victimization

Objective: This study investigates the association between histories of childhood victimization and perceived consequences of college hazing. Participants: First-year college students at four US universities (N?=?120). Method: Participants completed Web-based surveys asking about childhood victimization (eg, child maltreatment), peer victimization, and perceived consequences of hazing during college. Results: Results indicated that college students with childhood victimization histories perceived hazing to be negative. In particular, physical dating violence and a greater total number of childhood victimization exposures were related to a higher number of perceived negative consequences. Conclusion: Past victimization exposures confer risk on college students who experience hazing, in that these students are more likely to perceive negative consequences of hazing. Hazing-related policies and outreach efforts should consider these potential negative consequences, and counselors should be aware of the link between past victimization and how hazing might be experienced.     

Understanding stress as an impediment to academic performance

Abstract

Objectives: Stress is the most commonly reported impediment to academic performance among college students. The objectives of this study were to examine the accuracy of these perceptions, identify demographic and psychosocial factors that distinguished among students who differed in perceptions of how stress affected their performance, and assess the relations between these factors and grade point average (GPA). Participants: Undergraduate students (N?=?8,997) from 20 Midwestern schools. Methods: Participants completed online surveys during February–March 2015 that assessed perceived impediments to academic performance, cumulative GPA, demographic information, and psychosocial factors. Results: Students who reported that stress affected their performance had lower GPAs, and reported more stress and lower coping self-efficacy, resilience, and social support. Male, heterosexual, and ethnic-minority students were less likely to report having stress (but did not have higher GPAs). Conclusion: Stress reduction interventions should target psychosocial factors related to perceiving stress as an impediment and to poorer performance.     

Peer cultural socialisation: a resource for minority students’ cultural identity,life satisfaction,and school values

ABSTRACT

This study investigated how peers can contribute to cultural minority students’ cultural identity, life satisfaction, and school values (school importance, utility, and intrinsic values) by talking about cultural values, beliefs, and behaviours associated with heritage and mainstream culture (peer cultural socialisation). We further distinguished between heritage and mainstream identity as two separate dimensions of cultural identity. Analyses were based on self-reports of 662 students of the first, second, and third migrant generation in Germany (Mean age = 14.75 years, 51% female). Path analyses revealed that talking about heritage culture with friends was positively related to heritage identity. Talking about mainstream culture with friends was negatively associated with heritage identity, but positively with mainstream identity as well as school values. Both dimensions of cultural identity related to higher life satisfaction and more positive school values. As expected, heritage and mainstream identity mediated the link between peer cultural socialisation and adjustment outcomes. Findings highlight the potential of peers as socialisation agents to help promote cultural belonging as well as positive adjustment of cultural minority youth in the school context.     

Teachers’ multicultural attitudes and perceptions of school policy and school climate in relation to burnout

ABSTRACT

There is a growing number of ethnically and culturally diverse students in Dutch junior vocational high schools. This article examines teachers’ multicultural attitudes, their perceptions of cultural diversity related to school policy and school climate, and the chance of general and diversity-related burnout. The present research also characterises teachers in terms of their multicultural attitudes and perceptions of school policy and climate through cluster analysis. Results are based on questionnaire data of 120 teachers, working at five locations of a multicultural junior vocational high school in a highly urbanised part of the Netherlands. Correlational, regression, and variance analyses indicated that the highest levels of general and diversity-related burnout were found among teachers categorised as assimilationist in attitude and who perceived their school as pluralistic. Teachers could be divided into three types of profiles: (1) relative assimilative attitude, (2) no pronounced assimilative attitude, and (3) moderate assimilative attitude. Teachers with the second profile showed the highest chance for burnout.