Requirements, Risks, and Responsibility: Mothering and Fathering in Books about Raising Boys

The last two decades have been marked by increased attention from scholars, policy makers, and the mass media to girls' needs and experiences. More recently, two developments have contributed to a gender focus that puts boys at the center of popular and academic discourse: recent school shootings and reactions to the research focusing on girls. As one of many attempts at refocusing academic and policy discourse on boys, a genre of books about raising boys has emerged. This study discusses three popular books on the gender ideologies of parenting, by Gurian (1997), Pollack (1998), and Kindlon and Thompson (1999). We find that the three books hold mothers to higher expectations and to more elaborate requirements than they hold fathers. The claimed risks to sons associated with mothers assume an overabundance of qualities that these authors argue mothers are expected to possess in moderate proportions. Moreover, women's internal/biological processes, such as temperament, are more likely to be blamed for bad mothering, while external/environmental processes tend to be blamed for bad fathering. This examination has implications for policy decisions, research fund allocations, the reconstitution of essentialist and patriarchal expectations held by the lay public, the scholarly work on mother-blame, and the academic discourse on gender development.     

They're Cool: Social Status and Peer Group Supports for Aggressive Boys and Girls

This study examined who among the 526 fourth to sixth graders are nominated as among the coolest kids in their class. There were two questions: (1) Are popular‐aggressive (tough) children nominated as cool by a broad spectrum of their peers, or only by a select few? (2) Does variability in children’s cool nominations more closely follow their individual characteristics or group affiliations? Three‐level hierarchical linear modeling (nominators in groups in classrooms) tested the study hypotheses. The main finding was that children in aggressive groups nominated tough peers as cool and children in nonaggressive groups nominated popular‐nonaggressive (model) peers, regardless of nominators’ individual characteristics or the prominence of their groups across diverse classroom contexts. Girls were proportionately more likely to nominate tough than model boys, but only a minority (less than 25 percent) of relatively aggressive girls nominated any boys as cool. Findings indicate that normative boy and girl peer cultures give broad reputational support to some aggressive children.     

Producing Contradictory Masculine Subject Positions: Narratives of Threat, Homophobia and Bullying in 11–14 Year Old Boys

This paper reports a qualitative analysis of data from a study of masculinity in 11–14 year old boys attending twelve London schools. Forty-five group discussions ( N = 245) and two individual interviews ( N = 78) were conducted. The findings indicate that boys' experiences of school led them to assume that interviews would expose them to ridicule and so threaten their masculinity. Boys were generally more serious and willing to reveal emotions in individual than in group interviews. A key theme in boys' accounts was the importance of being able to present themselves as properly masculine in order to avoid being bullied by other boys by being labeled "gay." The ways in which boys were racialized affected their experiences of school.     

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Academic Engagement of Students

Higher education around the world is undergoing serious transformations as a result of technological, social, and economic processes. Universities from various countries are trying to secure a competitive position for themselves on the international market for educational services. Currently thousands of universities from different countries are trying to enter the race to join the race for international rankings. In their quest to reach the top of the rankings some countries seek to follow the experience of other, more successful nations by adopting their “best” practices. It is not surprising that all countries wish to secure a prosperous future for themselves and take efforts to avoid remaining on the sidelines of world development. However, a factor such as culture or national mentality may undermine the strategies and transformation processes that are being developed.

The goal of this study is to conduct a cross-cultural analysis of the academic engagement of students from Russian, Chinese, Japanese, American, and British universities and determine the role that cultural differences play in existing educational systems. The study sample consisted of 26,648 Bachelor’s students who were enrolled at universities in the United States, United Kingdom, China, Japan, and Russia during the 2016–2017 academic year. We used data from the “Student Experience in the Research University” (SERU) international research project to construct an index of student class involvement on the basis of a factor analysis. The results of our univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that students from Japanese, Chinese, American, British, and Russian universities demonstrate qualitatively different levels of academic involvement, which depends on the organization of the educational process as well as the cultural traditions of these countries. Thus, the Chinese students turned out to be the least engaged, since they were not required to actively participate in class discussions or to discuss additional questions related to the course with the instructor. Russian and American students demonstrated the highest level of engagement compared with other students from countries in the survey.

The author emphasizes the need to take into account existing cultural aspects when developing educational strategies, interacting with foreign students in the classroom, as well as conducting comparative studies.     

五陵原文化地位述论

五陵原作为一个人文地理概念,来自于汉代所设的五陵邑。大量地向陵邑徙民一方面形成了五陵原及关中经济的繁荣,同时也使五陵原成为汉代学术文化的中心。     

Exploring the Academic Benefits of Friendship Ties for Latino Boys and Girls*

Objectives. We examine how the racial/ethnic and generational status composition of Latino students' friendship groups is related to their academic achievement and whether there are differential effects by gender. Methods. We use multivariate regression analyses to examine the effects of friends' characteristics on Latino students' end of high school grades, utilizing data from the Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement Study (AHAA), and its parent survey, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Results. For Latina girls, there are positive effects of having more friendship ties to third‐plus‐generation Latino peers in contrast to dominant culture peers; yet Latino boys benefit academically from ties to all co‐ethnic peers. Having friends with higher parental education promotes achievement of both genders. Conclusion. Our results counter notions of a pervasive negative peer influence of minority youth and suggest that co‐ethnic ties are an important source of social capital for Latino students' achievement.     

Adolescent Weight and Depressive Symptoms: For Whom is Weight a Burden?*

Objective. Adolescent weight and depressive symptoms are serious population health concerns in their own right and as they relate to each other. This study asks whether relationships between weight and depressive symptoms vary by sex and race/ethnicity because both shape experiences of weight and psychological distress. Methods. Results are based on multivariate analyses of National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) data. Results. There are no associations between adolescent girls' weight and depressive symptoms, but these associations vary considerably among boys. Underweight is associated with depressive symptoms among all boys and subpopulations of white and Hispanic boys. Among Hispanic boys, those who are overweight (vs. normal weight) have a lower probability of reporting depressive symptoms. Finally, among normal weight boys, Hispanics and blacks are more likely to report depressive symptoms than whites. Conclusions. Findings are a reminder that understanding population health issues sometimes requires a focus on subpopulations, not simply the population as a whole.     

The choice of public or private school

A family's choice of enrolling its children in a public or private school depends on its income, its religious affiliation, the educational level of the parents and the school's quality and racial composition. A public opinion poll of 2000 Michigan residents provides an empirical test. Important variables were public school quality, income, religion and parents' education. Further analysis examined race and Roman Catholicism.     

Patterns of Bully/Victim Problems in Mixed Race Groups of Children

This study investigated the extent of bullying within and between British Asian and White girls and boys (n = 156) and some of the reasons why it occurs. There was no significant difference in the percentage of peers that nominated Asian and White children as either bullies or victims. Contrary to our prediction (derived from Tajfel's social judgement theory), both Asian children and White children were significantly more likely to be named as bullies of same-race classmates than to be named as bullies of other-race classmates. Again contrary to our prediction, for Asian boys and White boys there were no significant correlations between general racial preferences/attitudes on the one hand, and the extent to which they were named by classmates as bullies of other-race children on the other hand. In order to investigate the types of bullying directed at own-race and other-race pupils, a subset of the sample of children (n = 60) were also asked about the specific types of bullying they had experienced, and who was responsible. Some significant racial differences emerged, most notably that proportionally more Asian children than White children reported that they had been teased about their colour or race by children of the other-race, and the opposite was the case for non-racial types of teasing. The implications of these results for children's social development, and for school's attempts to remove bully/victim problems, are discussed. One recommendation was that teasing, and especially racial teasing by racial majority pupils, should be a focus for intervention.     

Too Cool for School? The Relationship between Coolness and Academic Reputation in Early Adolescence

The relationship between peer‐nominated coolness and academic reputation was examined at two time points spanning the first year of middle school (N = 807; 52 percent female; 52 percent African‐American; 48 percent European American). Students predominantly nominated peers who were from their same gender and ethnic group as being cool. Associations between coolness and academic reputation differed across subgroups, were contingent upon level of disruptive behavior, and changed over time from fall to spring of the academic year. In the fall, patterns differed by gender, not by ethnicity. For both white and African‐American boys, hierarchical regressions evidenced a null association between coolness and academic reputation; for both white and African‐American girls, this association was positive. In the spring, findings for white girls were similar to findings from the fall. For the three remaining groups—white boys and African‐American boys and girls—conditions worsened over time, albeit in slightly dissimilar ways. For white boys, fall coolness did not predict significant declines in academic reputation over time; nonetheless, as a group, the coolness–academic reputation was negative by the end of the year. For African‐American boys and girls, fall coolness significantly predicted declines in academic reputation from fall to spring, although the concurrent coolness–academic reputation association was not significantly negative for either group in the spring.     

Class Notes: Toward a Critical Psychology of Class and Schooling

In this epilogue, we offer a theoretical mapping of notions that have emerged across the articles in this issue of the Journal of Social Issues specifically dedicated to questions of social class. Social class is often included within the "race, class, gender, and sexual orientation" mantra of feminist and critical race work in psychology, but rarely scrutinized with rigor or serious scholarship. Thus, for the purposes of this epilogue, we theorize the relationship between the material, social, psychological, and the political. We identify four theoretical venues through which these researchers have opened a conversation about class and schooling: ideology, institutions, contradictions and consciousness, and method. We conclude by crafting a research agenda for a critical psychology of class and schooling .     

Preschool Boys with Pervasive Hyperactivity: Early Peer Functioning and Mother–Child Relationship Influences

This study compared the peer functioning of a community sample of preschool boys with pervasive hyperactivity (N=33) and comparison boys (N=34), and examined the extent to which any differences in peer functioning between these groups could be explained by comorbid child conduct problems and parenting factors. The quality of boys’ peer relations was assessed on the basis of teacher and observer ratings of peer‐related behavior at preschool. The quality of parenting and boys’ behavior at home were assessed using the Parental Account of Children's Symptoms Interview, the Parenting Scale, and videotaped mother–son interactions. Boys with hyperactive behavior problems showed higher rates of aggressive, noncompliant, and nonsocial behaviors, and lower rates of prosocial behavior and peer acceptance than boys in the comparison group. These between‐group differences in social functioning remained significant following statistical control for the effects of conduct problems, highlighting the wide range of peer difficulties associated with preschool hyperactivity. Results of further analyses suggest that the quality of early mother–child interactions and the behavioral features of hyperactivity may make unique contributions to the 00development of peer relationship difficulties in preschool children with pervasive hyperactivity.     

Social Status as a Predictor of Race and Gender Stereotypes in Late Childhood and Early Adolescence

We examined race and gender stereotypes in fourth‐, sixth‐ and eighth‐grade White and Black children. The participants reported their perceptions of the competence of Black, White, female and male children in academic domains, sports and music. In general, low‐status groups (girls and Black children) did not endorse stereotypes that reflected negatively on their own group but were likely to report stereotypes that favored their social group. High‐status groups (boys and Whites) endorsed most traditional stereotypes, whether negative or positive, for their social group. Where age differences appeared, older children were more likely than younger children to report traditional stereotypes and status effects were more pronounced. The results are discussed in terms of group enhancement and relationships between social stereotypes and self‐views.     

Father Custody and Social Development in Boys and Girls

The effects of father custody on children's social development are being studied by comparing children whose fathers have been awarded custody, children whose mothers have been awarded custody, and children from intact families. Half of the subjects are boys, and half are girls aged 6–11 years. Families are matched on SES, family size, and sibling status. The data presented here were based primarily on videotaped observations of parent-child interaction in 60 families. The most intriguing findings to date suggest that children living with the opposite sex parent (father custody girls and mother custody boys) are less well adjusted than children living with the same sex parent. However, in both father custody and mother custody families, authoritative parenting by the custodial parent was positively linked with the child's competent social behavior. Also, in both sets of divorced families, contact with additional adult caretakers was associated with positive social behaviors shown by the child.     

Regime change: gender, class, and the invention of dieting in post-bellum America

"Regime Change" argues against commonly held interpretations that see dieting as a practice established in the 1920s to control women at a time when they gained suffrage and greater economic independence. This article offers an alternative reading, arguing that diet advice literature arrived in the US in the 1860s and originally targeted a male, white, middle-class audience. While the hegemonic beauty ideal for the female body was at its heftiest, men started to build muscle and reduce weight. The ideal of the slender male body was associated with white superiority, social mobility and the national ambition for an American empire. When white middle-class women eventually started dieting in greater numbers in the 1890s, it was because they claimed the same mastery over their bodies as men—and demanded the same privileges as their male peers over immigrants, African Americans and working-class people, who were increasingly imagined as overweight. Revising the history of dieting to show its origins as a masculine practice appropriated by women to stake a claim to class and race privilege invites a rethinking of power and resistance in the disciplining of the female body.     

Perspectives on 'Race' and Adoption: The Views of Student Social Workers

¹ Derek Kirton, Department of Social and Public Policy and Social Work, Darwin College. The University, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NY, UK. E-mail: d.kirtonukc{at}ac.uk Summary This article examines the views of 835 student social workerson race and adoption, focusing on support for transracial andsame race adoption respectively. The two principal findingsare first, one of great divergence of expressed views irrespectiveof background factors, and secondly, that, on balance, supportfor same race adoption is markedly stronger among minority ethnicstudent social workers than their white counterparts. Backgrounddata are used to analyse some of the influences which lie behindthe views indicated, including those of social geography andthe effects of teaching. Factor analysis identifies attitudestowards the nature and salience of ‘black identity’as the most powerful indicator of overall perspectives on raceand adoption. Finally, implications of the study's findingsare discussed in the light of ongoing controversy regardingpolicy and practice in the family placement of minority ethnicchildren.     

Race,Color, Ethnicity,and Class

The issues of race, color, ethnicity, and class present many challenges for goup workers leading adolescent counseling groups in culturally muted urban areas. These issues are examined in detail in the context of a school-based group work program for middle school teenagers. The role of the group leader in working with this population is discussed, and guidelines are offered for developing biculturalism in group members and for addressing race, color, ethnicity, and class as they arise in bicultural group processes.     

论凉州士人在北魏的文化学术活动及其影响

凉州士人在北魏从事的文化学术活动主要有参与修订律令、修著国史以及置馆讲学等方面,尤其是在参与制定北魏朝廷典章制度方面影响深远。但由于崔浩国史事件、“平齐民”的迁入、“定姓族”制度的实施等因素影响,限制了凉州士人对北魏文化学术发展做出更大贡献。