College Women's Career Self-Efficacy and Educational Environments

This study examined the relationship between the composition by sex of women's high school and college environments as well as the sex of their selected influential teachers in each of these settings and their reported self-efficacy in careers judged traditional or nontraditional for women. Two hundred and seventy-four junior and senior female students from both single-sex and coeducational private liberal arts colleges served as participants. Results indicated no main effects for composition by sex of an institution, or the sex of influential teachers, nor were there any significant two-way interactions. Two significant (p > .05) three-way interactions did emerge, however. One indicated that nontraditional career self-efficacy was predicted by a single-sex high school and college environment with either no high school influential teacher or the choice of a male one. The second predicted three-way interaction indicated increased nontraditional career self-efficacy by students attending single-sex high schools and colleges and choosing a male college influential teacher.     

Is single-sex education beneficial to girls' development?

Currently, the number of single-sex schools has increased dramatically.Compared with unisexual education system, the unique feature of single-sex education may equip students with not only higher educational standards but efficient mental assistance. To understand the single-sex mode of learning-teaching comparisons between unisexual and segregated schools are carefully analyzed.     

Segregation and Supply: Preferences and Plans among ‘Self-Made’ Women

Recently, Hakim (1991) has argued that women's choices and decisions are a key determinant of labour market behaviour and patterns of gender segregation. Drawing on a case study of women scientists and engineers, this paper examines the extent to which horizontal segregation is the product of preference and planning. The evidence suggests that the women's choices were a significant factor in entering the technical professions. However, from predominantly middle-class families, coming from single-sex schools, the women were able to specialize in technical subjects and to withstand pressure to change their decisions. Their subsequent occupational positions were the product of these educational choices rather than well-formulated career plans. Their involvement in their employers' schools/industry liaison policies highlighted that the majority of young women do not consider professional science and engineering as an appropriate job for them. The findings of the study illustrate that preferences and plans are made in ‘gendered’ social contexts in which women face different opportunities and constraints in exercising their decisions. While the study of women's attitudes and behaviour should not be neglected, sociologists should be wary of voluntaristic accounts of gender segregation which rely on rationalistic notions of labour market behaviour.     

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.     

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.     

青少年生命认知的影响因素初探

有关青少年生命认识的影响因素的研究在中国尚处于薄弱地位。通过对中小学生的生命认知及相关因素的实证研究发现：个体经历不同,在死亡认知上的表现差异显著,经历过人的死亡的青少年有更多表达了对死亡本质的认知,较少表达对死亡的具体形象认知;父母的应对方式不同．导致青少年对于死亡认知的表达有显著差异。日常生活中对死亡事件是否讨论,会影响到青少年对生命以及死亡的认知。生命认知方面,有过讨论经验的青少年有更多对生命表达态度的认知;死亡认知方面,有过讨论经验的青少年有更多对死亡本质和表达态度的认知。     

Gender roles and scholastic performance among adolescent Vietnamese women: the paradox of ethnic patriarchy

The author argues that Vietnamese patriarchal views regarding gender roles have led to greater educational advancement among Vietnamese women as compared to men in the US. Data for this study were obtained from the 1990 census and from interviews in 1994 at two high schools located near a Vietnamese community and at a public high school for honor students. The survey sample included 402 Vietnamese students from the three schools. The sample was 90% of all Vietnamese students enrolled at these schools and 75% of high school students living in the neighborhood near the schools. Census data showed that Vietnamese women over age 25 were more likely than similarly aged men to have less than a high school education or a college education. The education gap between men and women declined among the population aged under 25 years. Among married men and women aged 16-24 years, there were few gender differences in the proportion of school drop outs. However, among the unmarried aged 16-24 years, young women were significantly more likely to be enrolled in college and were less likely to drop out of school. Among the sample student population, findings indicate that female students had significantly higher grades and spent more time on home work. Census reports reveal that women were more likely both to report the lack of plans for college and to report that college was very important to them. Fathers stressed the importance of obedience until marriage and achievement among daughters. Fathers expected daughters to advance educationally for a number of reasons. Mothers agreed with fathers that the education and employment of women was not a rejection of traditional Vietnamese values. Mothers believed that daughters would be increasing their potential resources by improving their educational status. Adolescent males held more traditional attitudes towards wives as mothers. Young women reported stricter social controls of behavior from parents.     

Providing new opportunities or reinforcing old stereotypes? Perceptions and experiences of single-sex public education

There has been a widespread increase in single-sex public schooling in the U.S. following 2006 changes to the Department of Education regulations motivated by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Single-sex public schooling is viewed as a means to improve the educational experiences and performance of low-income youth of color. Yet little is known about its effects and efficacy, particularly for these populations. This article is based on a community-based participatory research project, on which high school students and university researchers collaborated, conducted in a low-income, African American high school implementing single-sex courses. Our findings challenge proponents' key assumptions that single-sex education will improve the academic achievement of low-income youth of color by 1) eliminating distraction from the other sex; 2) addressing the different learning styles of girls and boys; and 3) remedying inequities by offering these youth opportunities traditionally afforded to more privileged youth. While some distractions were decreased, others were increased or ignored; racialized stereotypes of hypersexuality and essentialized notions of gender were reinforced; and students felt punished rather than privileged by being separated by sex. We conclude that single-sex education as a public school option is a neoliberal approach to addressing low achievement that deflects attention from the structural inequities that created the problem and implicitly blames those experiencing oppression.     

Rural Appalachian High School Students’ College‐Going and STEMM Perceptions

The authors examined perceptions of key social cognitive career theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) variables related to college‐going and science, technology, engineering, math, and medical (STEMM) careers in 10th and 11th graders (N = 892) attending 3 rural Appalachian high schools. The authors examined differences in perceptions related to gender, prospective 1st‐generation college student status, and the presence or absence of aspirations to pursue a STEMM career. Young women and young men scored similarly on all but 1 dependent variable, college‐going self‐efficacy (young women scored higher). Students who had STEMM career aspirations had higher scores on every measure than those who did not. Results suggest examining a 3rd prospective 1st‐generation college student status group—students who are unsure of their parents’ education level—as a distinct group in future research. By examining the college‐going and STEMM attitudes of rural Appalachian high school students, this study advances the literature and informs practitioners on reducing educational and vocational inequalities in this region.     

Birthmothers and Subsequent Children: The Role of Personality Traits and Attachment History1

Fifty-five women who had surrendered their first child for adoption and went on to have subsequent children, and 32 women who had surrendered their first child for adoption and did not have more children were given the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and the Attachment History Questionnaire. Women who had more children scored significantly higher on the Extroversion scale of the NEO-PI-R. Women who did not have more children were more apt to never marry and, when there was marriage, more apt to divorce. Women who had more children reported more pressure from family to relinquish their child. Attachment History Questionnaire results showed women who did not have more children reported “Friends” as significant support figures more often than women who did have more children.     

Violence against women with physical disabilities

This study explored risk factors for violence among a sample of adult women with physical disabilities. Fifty-six percent (100) of the 177 women participating in the study indicated a positive history of abuse. Of the women who reported abuse, most reported multiple abuse situations and abusers who were typically their male partners. In addition, only a small proportion of women sought and received adequate help. Women who indicated that they did not seek help were asked why this was the case. Their responses included: feeling that they could handle it themselves, having other sources of support available, being unaware of where to go, feeling embarrassed, feeling guilty about being a burden or that it was their fault, fear that abuser would come after them, fear of not being believed, and, to a lesser extent, concern that the shelter would lack appropriate accommodations. These findings highlight the importance of intervention strategies including advocacy activities for women with disabilities, activities with schools, activities to deter and prevent partner and caregiver violence, community awareness activities, and dissemination activities.     

Race,Sex, and Perception of the Occupational Opportunity Structure among College Students*

Questionnaires were administered to 70 black female, 75 black male, 1,457 white female and 1,429 white male university freshmen. In order to test three alternative theories regarding perceptions of discrimination, analyses of variance related sex, race, and SES to total scores of perceived occupational discrimination against blacks (BDST) and against women (WDST). Blacks perceived significantly more discrimination against black people than did whites; neither sex nor SES differentialed scores on BDST. Black females and white males perceived significantly more discrimination against women than did white females; black females had the highest and white females the lowest WDST scores. A discriminant analysis on white females indicated that high WDST scorers were characterized by an “underdog syndrome” whereas low WDST scorers held internal, individualistic values. The findings indicated the greatest support for the formulation that differential anticipatory socialization into the role of “a person who is discriminated against” characterized white females who perceived more or less discrimination against women.     

An examination of sheltered battered women's perpetration of stalking and other unwanted pursuit behaviors

In the current study, sheltered battered women (n = 105) self-reported whether they had perpetrated stalking or other unwanted pursuit behaviors (e.g., harassment, threat) during relationship separations from their abuser. Results indicated that sheltered battered women who admitted perpetrating stalking behavior (about 25% of the sample) had more self-blame, depression, and a greater tendency to leave the shelter within the first week (45%) than did battered women who did not report perpetrating stalking behaviors. The majority of battered women who reported perpetrating stalking behavior also reported being victimized by stalking behaviors (bidirectional stalking). Although these women reported similarly high levels of fear toward their abuser as did unidirectionally stalked women, bidirectionally stalking women were less likely to perceive that their abuser was using his violence to obtain control over them and were more depressed and self-blaming. Directions for future research, recommendations for shelter staff, and the potential treatment implications of these findings are discussed.     

Birthmothers and Subsequent Children: The Role of Personality Traits and Attachment History

Fifty-five women who had surrendered their first child for adoption and went on to have subsequent children, and 32 women who had surrendered their first child for adoption and did not have more children were given the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and the Attachment History Questionnaire. Women who had more children scored significantly higher on the Extroversion scale of the NEO-PI-R. Women who did not have more children were more apt to never marry and, when there was marriage, more apt to divorce. Women who had more children reported more pressure from family to relinquish their child. Attachment History Questionnaire results showed women who did not have more children reported Friends as significant support figures more often than women who did have more children.     

Impact of interaction with a partner or friend on the exposure effects of pornography and erotica

Past studies on the effects of sexually explicit materials on women have tended to study them alone, in pairs, or in groups of strangers. By contrast, our study randomly assigned women to bring either a same-sex friend or a male partner to reflect more natural viewing conditions. Discussion between the participant and her companion followed exposure to the sexual images. Women who viewed pornography maintained their (quite high) level of negative mood, whereas women who viewed erotica experienced a substantial improvement in mood. The sex of the companion did not have a direct influence on participants' mood, with discussion improving mood across the board. However, participants' ratings of their satisfaction with the discussion were significantly influenced by the sex of their companion. We suggest that future research should focus more on the interpersonal aspects of male-female relationships when exploring the effects of sexually explicit materials on heterosexual women.     

The Relationship between High School Sector and Educational Success: Focusing on the Social Background of Private High School Students

This study investigates the influence of high school sector on educational success in Japan. A range of previous research on disparities among high schools has revealed that high school rank (based on the academic ability of pupils, etc.) originated from the democratization of high school. However, given that the democratization of high school is supported by private high schools, high school sector may become a factor for high school ranking. The data used for the analysis are the 2005 National Survey of Social Stratification and Social Mobility (SSM) in Japan. The results indicate that students who enter private high schools have lower academic ability than students who enter public high schools. By contrast, private high school students have greater educational success than public high school students. Moreover, this study reveals that private high school students are generally from a higher social class than public high school students. Given that the use of entrance examinations for private junior high schools has been increasing since the 1990s, in the future, the effect of private schools on educational success may become stronger in not only high schools but also junior high schools. This study thus emphasizes the importance of paying greater attention to the relationship between educational success and the private and public school sectors.     

Marital Disruption and Higher Education Among Women in the United States*

The general inverse relationship between marital disruption (separation and divorce) and educational status, commonly assumed by family sociologists, is demonstrated for both men and women using the 1/1000 sample of the 1970 United States Census. A minor, but interesting exception to this generally inverse relationship is noted for males with six or more years of college. This paper, however, focuses on a more dramatic and particularly significant deviation from the general pattern. Specifically, highly educated females – those with five or more years of college – have an especially high disruption rate compared to women with only four years of college. In fact, the disruption rate for women with five or more years of college exceeds that for women at every educational level except those who did not finish high school. The objective of this study was to see if those factors which differentiate women with four years of college from those with five or more are the same factors that differentiate between the "never disrupted" and the "ever disrupted" women with five or more years of college. The findings reveal that three variables – race, employment outside the home, and income – are associated with the likelihood that highly educated women will divorce or separate. These same variables also distinguish them from baccalaureate-level women. Four possible explanations, unrelated to the data analysis presented, are suggested for why a woman who enters graduate school significantly increases her probability of marital disruption.     

Demographic and socioeconomic determinants of female rural to urban migration in Sub-Saharan Africa

Data from the 1986-90 Demographic and Health Surveys of Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, and Uganda were used to examine the impact of fertility, child mortality, and socioeconomic and demographic factors on female rural-urban migration of six months or more duration. Several principles appear to direct the migration of high fertility women. High parity women are free from the male demands for more children. Rural areas lack basic amenities such as schools, health services, and modern housing. Additional children may strain family resources and require additional income from other sources. Husband and kin may have already moved. All data are nationally representative, with the exception of Uganda with an 80% sample. Women living in rural areas two years prior to the survey were included in the sample. Fertility and mortality data pertain to children aged under five years in the period two to seven years before the survey year. Multinomial logit analysis was based on an analytical model developed by Goldstein and Goldstein. High fertility was found to deter female migration to either urban or rural areas. Women, who had one surviving child aged under five years, were significantly less likely to move to urban areas only in Nigeria and Senegal and to other villages in Burundi compared to women without a recent birth. Women with two or more surviving children were significantly less likely (by 43-75%) to move to urban areas in five out of seven countries. Moves to rural areas were less likely by 36-61% in six out of eight countries. The evidence does not suggest that the reason for moves is to advance the children's material or physical well-being. The number of births, particularly in Kenya where fertility is very high in rural areas, acts as a deterrent to migration. Child mortality only constrains moves to urban areas. Unmarried women, single women, better educated women, and adults in their 20s are more likely to move to urban areas.     

Depressive Symptoms in Mothers of Recently Adopted Post-Institutionalized Children

To determine whether depressive symptoms are elevated within months of adoption, we compared women who had recently adopted a toddler from an overseas orphanage to women with children of the same age who adopted more than a year before or were raising a child they birthed. The groups did not differ significantly in means or in percentage with elevated symptoms (Session 1, χ²(2) = 2.5, ns; Session 2, χ²(2) = 1.38, ns). The results provided no evidence of elevated symptoms in the first months following adoption for women who adopted internationally relative to other women with toddler-aged children.