School Engagement Trajectories and Their Differential Predictive Relations to Dropout

Although most theories draw upon the construct of school engagement in their conceptualization of the dropout process, research addressing its hypothesized prospective relation with dropout remains scarce and does not account for the academic and social heterogeneity of students who leave school prematurely. This study explores the reality of different life-course pathways of school engagement and their predictive relations to dropout. Using an accelerated longitudinal design, we used growth mixture modeling to generate seven distinct trajectories of school engagement with 12- to 16-year-old students (N = 13,300). A vast majority of students were classified into three stable trajectories, distinguishing themselves at moderate to very high levels of school engagement. We refer to these as developmentally normative pathways in light of their frequent occurrence and stability. Although regrouping only one-tenth of participants, four other nonnormative (or unexpected pathways) accounted for the vast majority of dropouts. Dropout risk was closely linked with unstable pathways of school engagement. We conclude by debating the delicate investment balance between universal strategies and more selective and differentiated strategies to prevent dropout. We also discuss the need to better understand why, within normative trajectories, some students with high levels of school engagement drop out of school .     

Academic Paths,Ageing and the Living Conditions of Students in the Late 20th Century*

Le monde étudiant est profondément marqué par la diversité des tra‐jectoires individuelles, qui sont souvent très éloignées d'un déroule‐ment linéaire des études. Les conséquences sur l'âge des étudiants sont majeures, et la condition étudiante ne peut plus être définie comme une expérience strictement juvénile. Or, entre 20 et 30 ans, l'âge engendre des impératifs différentiels sur le plan des conditions et des modes de vie qui ne sont pas toujours compatibles avec la condition étudiante classique. Cette étude des parcours et de la situation financière des étudiants des universités québécoises de langue françhise et anglaise montre comment s'opère la déconnexion entre jeunesse et condition étudiante, et comment cette déconnexion influe sur la différenciation des conditions de vie et de financement des études. Student life is profoundly marked by the diversity of individual trajectories, which are in stark contrast with the linear path traditionally taken by students. The impact on the age of the student population is significant: indeed, student life can no longer be qualified as strictly for the young. Between the ages of 20 and 30 years, different imperatives come into play in terms of living conditions and lifestyle. These imperatives are not always compatible with the conditions of classic student life. This study of the academic paths and the financial situation of Quebec university students shows how the disconnection between student condition and youth occurs and how this disconnection impacts the differentiation of student's living conditions and modes of financing university studies.     

Past-users of HRT are osteopenic four months after discontinuation:an observational and cross-sectional study

Hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) helps to prevent osteoporosis. The effect of short-term discontinuation of a long-term HRT on bone mineral density (BMD) in healthy post-menopausal women is unknown. Fifteen women on HRT (HRT users), 17 who never used HRT (non-users) and 8 former HRT users (past-HRT users) were recruited. BMD was measured by DXA. Our results allow to hypothesize that BMD may decline after short-term HRT discontinuation, which would increase the fracture risks. Indeed, our results show that past-HRT users are osteopenic just as non-users. However, these results should be re-examined using a prospective trial and a larger sample size.     

Dynamic inconsistency and choice

In this paper, we analyze an intra-personal game where a decision-maker is summarized by a succession of selves. Selves may (or may not) have conflicting interests, and earlier selves may have imperfect knowledge of the preferences of future selves. At date 1, self-1 chooses a menu, at date 2, the preferences of self-2 realize and self-2 chooses an item from the menu. We show that equilibrium choice is consistent with either a preference for flexibility, a preference for betweenness or a preference for systematic restriction. Overall, the analysis reconciles the decision–theoretic approach of choice over time with the game–theoretic multiple-selves approach.     

Cognitive Characteristics of Strategic and Non-strategic Gamblers

Participation in strategic and non-strategic games is mostly explained in the literature by gender: men gamble on strategic games, while women gamble on non-strategic games. However, little is known about the underlying cognitive factors that could also distinguish strategic and non-strategic gamblers. We suggest that cognitive style and need for cognition also explain participation in gambling subtypes. From a dual-process perspective, cognitive style is the tendency to reject or accept the fast, automatic answer that comes immediately in response to a problem. Individuals that preferentially reject the automatic response use an analytic style, which suggest processing information in a slow way, with deep treatment. The intuitive style supposes a reliance on fast, automatic answers. The need for cognition provides a motivation to engage in effortful activities. One hundred and forty-nine gamblers (53 strategic and 96 non-strategic) answered the Cognitive Reflection Test, Need For Cognition Scale, and socio-demographic questions. A logistic regression was conducted to evaluate the influence of gender, cognitive style and need for cognition on participation in strategic and non-strategic games. Our results show that a model with both gender and cognitive variables is more accurate than a model with gender alone. Analytic (vs. intuitive) style, high (vs. low) need for cognition and being male (vs. female) are characteristics of strategic gamblers (vs. non-strategic gamblers). This study highlights the importance of considering the cognitive characteristics of strategic and non-strategic gamblers in order to develop preventive campaigns and treatments that fit the best profiles for gamblers.     

La responsabilité sociale des entreprises, un projet européen en panne

The European Union (EU) has developed a special approach to corporate social responsibility by incorporating it into its strategies of employment and social cohesion and of sustainable development. This should make it possible to diffuse the European social model inside and outside the EU. Through an unprecedented dialog between institutions and “civil society”, the EU planned to explore the possibility of a consensus on a framework for corporate social responsibility. This article seeks to shed light on the perilous disconnection between European institutions, companies and society at a time when the corporate social responsibility practiced by European firms has turned into a vector of innovation in labor relations by becoming a subject of transnational negotiations. It has also become a litmus test of the limits of a self-regulation, worldwide, of labor questions.     

Transitional stages and identity boundaries: the case of ethnic minorities in China

At the advent of the Republic in China in 1911, the minority issue took on its real dimension. Its founder Sun Yat Sen, aware of the fragility of the new Nation-State, and turning a deaf ear to the statistical evidence, tried to minimize the influence of the minorities and to enhance, in his writings and speeches, the demographic supremacy of the Hans. On the contrary, the communist regime since the very start (1949) made a full-fledge recognition (including religion as a criterionr of ethnic minorities. There are now 55 minority groups, amounting to 120 million inhabitants, almost 10% of the population. This article explores the relationship between fertility trends since 1970, as depicted in the single age and sex structures in the 1990 census, and socio-economic, cultural and religious factors. Most sinicized minorities (Manchu, Mongols, Koreans …) have more or less followed the same pace of fertility transition as the Hans, under the yoke of the tough restrictive population policy. On the other hand, fertility trends among the less sinicized groups (Tibetans, Uigurs, Kazakhs and Kirgiz), have been largely at odds with the mainstream Han group. Their fertility remained high at the very moments when it was sharply reduced among Hans and decreased when Han fertility was remaining almost stable. This reflcts the fact that the Chinese authorities have conceded substantial privileges to their minorities, especially in the frontiers by relaxing the family planning policy. Religion as such does not emerge as a key explanatory variable explaining fertility differences. Hence, fertility among Moslem minorities has diverged to a great extent among the more integrated Hui minority, on the one hand, and the Turkic ones (Uigurs, Kazakhs and Kirgiz), on the other. Whereas the patterns of the Hui fertility were always in line with those of the Hans, the Xinjiang populations have displayed a higher than expected fertility, which might be a demographic response to the ambitions of the central government, whose aim was to strenghten its buffer-zone in the Turkic regions by drowning them under the masses of Han immigrants. The proportion of ethnic Chinese in Xinjiang has thus increased from a mere 7% in 1953 to some 40% today. However, this proportion is unstable and likely to decrease in the near future under the impact of the higher natural growth of the Turkic populations.