Sexually Transmitted Infections and Unintended Pregnancy: A Longitudinal Analysis of Risk Transmission Through Friends and Attitudes

Data from 1,087 adolescent participants in three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were used to examine the effects of peer selection and socialization processes in adolescence on later reports of sexually transmitted infections (STI) and unintended pregnancies. Friends' attitudes and behavior were assessed with friends' reports. Among male adolescents, there was evidence for selection effects on STI diagnoses and socialization effects on reports of unintended pregnancy, both involving friends' attitudes. Among female adolescents, there was evidence for long‐term effects of both socialization and selection processes involving same‐sex friends' attitudes. Discussion focuses on the importance of peer and individual attitudes as potential intervention targets.     

Effects of Conservative Sociopolitical Attitudes on Public Support for Drug Rehabilitation Spending

Objective . In this article we investigate why traditionally conservative social groups show less support for spending on drug rehabilitation programs than for drug control spending in general. Methods . Using data from the 1984 through 1998 General Social Surveys, we first estimate logistic regressions of support for drug control spending across five sociopolitical cleavages. We then estimate effects of three types of sociopolitical attitudes on support for drug spending within traditionally conservative groups. Results . Resistance to rehabilitation spending among conservatives is related to their opposition to the welfare state, punitive attitudes toward criminals, and among whites, racial attitudes. Conclusions . Our findings suggest that citizens may withhold support for a social policy to the extent that it evokes negative associations with other salient sociopolitical issues or attitudes. We discuss the importance of these associations for understanding the relationships among political debate, public opinion, and policy outcomes.     

Hatred of "Others" Among Jewish, Arab, and Palestinian Students in Israel

This study analyzes hatred against diverse sociopolitical groups and compares the social and political attitudes of three distinct and highly differentiated groups: Jewish, Arab, and Palestinian high school students in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. It examines their perceptions of the political context and aims to find the factors that influence the extremity of their hatred. Analysis of the data shows that the proposed model is more applicable to Jewish students than it is to Arabs and Palestinians, and shows that hatred toward outgroups is influenced by religiosity, the salience of national and civic identity, national security issues, and political ideology.     

Positive college attitudes among minority and low-income students as an indicator of academic success

Positive student attitudes among minority and low SES students toward the effectiveness of their college may be seen as a function of college success. These data suggest that students with positive attitudes toward their college experience had greater academic achievements than those who had negative attitudes.     

Homophobic Name‐calling,Peer‐groups,and Masculinity: The Socialization of Homophobic Behavior in Adolescents

Social network analysis and multilevel modeling were used to examine the formation of homophobic name‐calling behavior in adolescents. Specifically, peer group contextual and socialization effects on homophobic name‐calling as well as the influence of masculinity attitudes, general bullying perpetration, and victimization were tested. Participants included 493 fifth‐ through eighth‐grade students from two middle schools. Results indicated that peer groups play an important role in the formation of homophobic name‐calling. Additionally, students who were victims of homophobic name‐calling over time increased their own perpetration of homophobic name‐calling. Non‐homophobic bullying was also related to homophobic name‐calling, but only for male peer groups. And finally, the role of masculinity attitudes was shown to be complex, as peer group masculinity attitudes were significantly predictive of an individual's homophobic perpetration; however, this effect did not remain significant over time. Results suggest that homophobic name‐calling during early adolescence is strongly influenced by peers and rooted in gender and masculinity.     

Youth Political Development: An Introduction

Research on political socialization during the 1950s focused on early precursors of political attitudes and treated children as rather passive participants in the process. A second wave of research in the 1960s considered youth a force creating social change and held that the transition between adolescence and adulthood was a period uniquely suited to examining political issues. Developmental research during the past two decades has emphasized lifelong plasticity and the importance of the sociohistorical contexts in which children grow up. This change in views of development has occurred at a time when populations in all societies are becoming more diverse and when there have been dramatic economic and sociopolitical upheavals throughout the world. Thus there is a renewed importance for research on the political development of young people and the potential for examining this topic in increasingly meaningful ways. This issue highlights a new generation of research in this domain, paying particular attention to international and comparative work and to those studies that bring a fresh and developmental approach.     

Social Work Education as Professional Socialization

Abstract

Professional socialization in social work is the subject of the panel study described in this article. It focuses upon the impact of different social work education programs upon the professional preferences of students in the United States and Israel. The findings indicate that significant change with regard to some of the variables did occur between the beginning and completion of studies. This generally took the form of a declinein preferences though a number of cross-culture differences were observed. The implications of the findings for the issue of professional socialization in social work are discussed.     

Political socialization in the classroom revisited: The Kids Voting program

Can a civic education program have a short-term impact on political awareness of students and also lead to higher turnout by their parents? This political socialization study evaluates a program, used by 2.3 million students in 1994, that was designed to achieve both goals. Responses to a random survey of 24,976 participants in the Kids Voting program indicate that most students followed the election campaign closely and found the KV program to be enjoyable and useful. Analysis of non-equivalent control groups shows a slight gain in turnout in areas where schools used the program, compared to areas where it was not used. The study also suggests Kids Voting may have several secondary benefits, such as increased student use of the news media and increased discussions of public affairs with family and friends—activities which are linked to long-term political socialization. It remains unclear whether any changes in student attitudes associated with the program are simply short-term in nature.     

Emotion Socialization by Mothers and Fathers: Coherence among Behaviors and Associations with Parent Attitudes and Children's Social Competence

This study examined inter‐relations among different types of parental emotion socialization behaviors in 88 mothers and 76 fathers (co‐residing with participating mothers) of eight‐year‐old children. Parents completed questionnaires assessing emotion socialization behaviors, emotion‐related attitudes, and their children's social functioning. An observed parent–child emotion discourse task and a child social problem‐solving interview were also performed. Parent gender differences and concordance within couples in emotion socialization behaviors were identified for some but not all behaviors. Fathers' reactions to child emotion, family expressiveness, and fathers' emotion coaching during discussion cohered, and a model was supported in which the commonality among these behaviors was predicted by fathers' emotion‐coaching attitudes, and was associated with children's social competence. A cohesive structure for the emotion socialization construct was less clear for mothers, although attitudes predicted all three types of emotion socialization behavior (reactions, expressiveness, and coaching). Implications for developmental theory and for parent‐focused interventions are discussed.     

学校环境与学生成绩的性别差异

近几十年来,随着女生受教育权利越来越得到重视,男女生在受教育机会方面趋于平等,但学校中却出现了男生平均成绩相比女生普遍偏低的现象,学生学习成绩的性别差异越来越明显。本文采用学校固定效应模型,分析不同的班级环境对学生学习成绩造成的影响及其性别差异。研究结果显示,男生学习成绩落后的现象多存在于学习环境相对较差的学校。进一步加入中间变量,初步探析其形成机制后发现,在较差的学校中,男生容易在同伴群体中形成反学校的认知、态度和行为,女生则较少受到这种影响,因而容易造成学习成绩上的性别差异。     

Effect of Sociocultural Context and Parenting Style on Scholastic Achievement among Iranian Adolescents

School grades, family demographics and responses to the parental authority questionnaire were assessed in 240 eighth‐grade students in the southern, central and northern parts of Tehran, Iran's capital. The result showed that poorer families with traditional values had more authoritarian attitudes toward parenting than richer families with more modern values. In contrast to the studies conducted in East Asian societies, the current study found that authoritative parenting was the style associated with the highest academic outcome. Tests of mediation and moderation effects showed that the relation between parenting style and academic outcome was independent of sociocultural context.     

A cross-cultural analysis of perception on ageist attitudes between Korean and American social work students

This study examined whether there are differences in ageist attitudes toward a person who is struggling from terminal illness between Korean and American social work major students at the undergraduate level. A total of 137 college students participated in this study: 66 Korean students in South Korea and 71 American students in the United States. The students were given surveys with an identical case but the subject was either a 38-year-old or an 80-year-old woman, and they answered 16 questions regarding their perception of age and death, end-of-life options, assessment and intervention, and values and ethics to care. The finding showed that there were generally negative ageist attitudes among social work students regardless of their cultural background, though there were some differences in their basic ageist attitudes. The findings suggest that social work students at the undergraduate level need more education to resolve their negative ageist attitudes in order to provide effective service for the older population.     

Starting Behind: A Comparative Analysis of the Academic Standing of Students Entering Charter Schools*

Objectives. The purpose of this study is to assess if students enter charter schools at an academic disadvantage compared to students who make other types of school‐choice decisions, such as transferring between district schools, from a charter to a district school, or staying in the same school. We assess the demographic and academic characteristics of students prior to choosing to attend a charter school in comparison to students who made other types of school‐choice decisions and broaden the operational definition of a “disadvantaged” student when exploring differences between charter and district students to include academic achievement prior to entering a school. Methods. The analysis is conducted with student‐level panel data and a progressive series of ANCOVA models that were estimated using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. This methodology allows for a comparison of the mean differences in academic achievement among students who made different types of school‐choice decisions while controlling for student‐level covariates. Results. Students who transferred from district to charter schools had the lowest levels of prior academic achievement compared to students who made other types of choice decisions. Conclusions. When Arizona charter authorizers face the deluge of renewal decisions that are approaching, the quality of education available to the next generation of charter school students is at stake. Renewal decisions will impact what choices are available going forward and, given the comparative academic disadvantage of charter school students prior to entering, those decisions should take into consideration the starting point for students entering charter schools.     

A Comparison of South-East Asian and Australian First-Year Students' Views on University

A questionnaire study was carried out with Asian and Australian university entrants in order to ascertain their differential attitudes as to the purposes of an ideal university, and their expectations as to the milieu of an actual university. The implications of the significant culturally based differences between the two groups are discussed in terms of relative value systems, culture-shock effects, and the ramifications for both academic policy and inter-racial relations.     

Regulatory Self‐efficacy as a Moderator of Peer Socialization Relating to Italian Adolescents' Alcohol Intoxication

The present study investigated regulatory self‐efficacy (RSE) as a predictor of friendship and adolescent alcohol intoxication and as a moderator of peer socialization processes related to alcohol intoxication. The longitudinal sample included 457 Italian adolescents (262 females and 195 males) ranging in age of 14 to 20 years (M = 16.1 years of age). Sociometric and behavioral data were collected at the beginning and end of the academic school year. Actor‐based models were applied to simultaneously estimate selection and socialization processes accounting for interdependencies among friends' drinking behaviors. The results indicated that adolescents did not select friends with similar levels of alcohol intoxication or RSE, but adolescents did adopt their friends' drinking behaviors. RSE was negatively associated with adolescent drinking behaviors and moderated socialization processes related to alcohol use, with adolescents reporting higher levels of RSE being less likely to adopt their friends' drinking behaviors than adolescents with lower levels of RSE.     

Attitudes of Palestinian pre‐school teachers from Israel towards reporting of suspected cases of child abuse and neglect

The paper documents a study conducted among 225 Palestinian pre‐school teachers from Israel. Data were collected through a self‐administered questionnaire that examined the teachers’ attitudes towards reporting child abuse and neglect. In general, the participants’ attitudes towards reporting child abuse and neglect to the child protection services (CPS) were more positive than their attitudes towards reporting to the police. Willingness to report suspected cases of child sexual abuse to the police and CPS was higher than willingness to report other types of child abuse and neglect. Inconsistent results were revealed with regard to how awareness of reporting regulations and awareness of signs and risk factors for child maltreatment affect willingness to report to CPS and to the police. A comprehensive discussion of the possible relevance of the participants’ socio‐cultural and sociopolitical values to their attitudes towards reporting child abuse and neglect is presented. The implications of the results for future studies are also discussed.     

Family Life and School Experience: Factors in the Racial Identity Development of Black Youth in White Communities

Eighteen middle-class Black college students were interviewed in-depth about their experiences growing up in predominantly White communities. Using Cross's model of racial identity development as a theoretical framework for analysis, case studies of three women and two men are presented to highlight the impact of varied parental socialization practices and school experiences on racial identity development. For all, positive same-race peer relationships, information about African-American achievements, the availability of role models, and the encouragement of significant adults were important for academic success and the beginning resolution of identity conflicts. The implications of these findings for understanding aspects of school integration and for developing relevant school-based interventions are considered.     

Towards a balanced multiculturalism? Immigrant integration policies and immigrant children's educational performance

The present study examines whether a host country's institutional environment of immigrant integration influences immigrant youth's integration into its educational system. Ensuring immigrant youth are well integrated into the educational system bears paramount societal significance because the educational pathways of these youth will determine not only their own life trajectories but also the future of society as an integrated whole. Based on a dataset that links PISA 2015 with MIPEX 2010, a series of cross-national multilevel analyses has been conducted for 227,028 children in 34 OECD countries. Two important patterns stand out in the results. First, the academic performance of immigrant children tends to be more comparable to that of their non-immigrant peers in countries characterized by a more egalitarian distribution of civic rights. Second, the performance gap for immigrant children appears smallest in countries characterized by a medium level of sociopolitical promotion of group-based cultural rights. These patterns suggest that policy efforts toward balancing between diversity and unity combined with systemic levers for egalitarian civic rights may contribute to the macro-level institutional environment in which social disadvantages of immigrant students can be mitigated.     

A Study of MSW and BSW Students' Involvement with Group Work in the Field Practicum

ABSTRACT

Over six hundred students from ten schools of social work participated in a study designed to determine the extent to which they were involved in group work in their field practicum and their attitudes towards this intervention. Results indicated that the majority of the students felt they understood group work, even though they had actually had relatively little academic preparation and limited experience with groups in their field placement. In addition, the findings suggest that actual experience with group work in the field placement may decrease students' desire to lead groups in their professional practice, unless this experience is accompanied by appropriate support and guidance.