Racial/Ethnic Minority Community College Students' Critical Consciousness and Social Cognitive Career Outcomes

A need exists to better understand how racial/ethnic minority students' critical consciousness development in response to marginalization may be involved in their educational and career development. We therefore examined the link between critical consciousness development and career decision self-efficacy and career outcome expectations among racial/ethnic minority community college students. Following social cognitive career theory's conceptual pillars, we developed a testable model integrating critical consciousness and social cognitive variables. This model was tested with 135 racially and ethnically diverse community college students. Data analysis included path analyses and tests of model fit using structural equation modeling. Results suggested that (a) higher critical agency is linked to higher career decision self-efficacy and outcome expectations and (b) critical action and reflection have a bidirectional link and predict higher critical agency. Implications for research and practice aiming to close educational and career gaps among racial/ethnic minorities are discussed.     

SOCIAL PRISMS: AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON OF CHILDREARING MANUALS1

Abstract This paper presents findings from a comparative study of childrearing values and practices in four countries–Japan, People's Republic of China, France, and United States–based upon a content analysis of the ten best-selling childrearing manuals in each country during the last decade of the twentieth century. A uniform set of procedures was used to classify and analyze the content of the manuals. Selected findings are discussed regarding: (1) management of the child's body and bodily functions: 12) management and shaping of the child's behavior; and (3) roles and role relationships within the family and outside. While cultural differences remain, two general trends emerge from the analysis. One is a trend toward more flexible child care practices and greater sensitivity to the character and needs of the individual child. The second is a convergence of opinion on many aspects of children's upbringing. Global trends that are affecting the production and dissemination of childrearing advice are also discussed.     

Kinship care in Australia

Kinship care is the fastest growing form of out‐of‐home care placement in Australia. It is now a more common form of placement than foster care in some Australian states and is the most common form of placement for Indigenous children nationally. This paper reviews national data and reports ?ndings from a state (New South Wales) study of the experience of kinship carers, children and workers. Relative carers, children and child welfare caseworkers were found to identify psychological bene?ts, family obligation and criticism of other forms of care as reasons for preferring kinship care. Legislation and policy, particularly the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle, are also identi?ed as factors contributing to the rise in kinship care. Concern for the high levels of stress among carers and the low levels of monitoring of children's safety and well‐being are discussed and a stronger policy and practice response from government agencies is proposed. Indications of new policy and programme responses are demonstrated by several recent initiatives at state and national levels. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Problem Gambling Among International and Domestic University Students in Australia: Who is at Risk?

Young people are a high risk group for gambling problems and university (college) students fall into that category. Given the high accessibility of gambling in Australia and its association with entertainment, students from overseas countries, particularly those where gambling is restricted or illegal, may be particularly vulnerable. This study examines problem gambling and its correlates among international and domestic university students using a sample of 836 domestic students (286 males; 546 females); and 764 international students (369 males; 396 females) at three Australian universities. Our findings indicate that although most students gamble infrequently, around 5 % of students are problem gamblers, a proportion higher than that in the general adult population. Popular gambling choices include games known to be associated with risk (cards, horse races, sports betting, casino games, and gaming machines) as well as lotto/scratch tickets. Males are more likely to be problem gamblers than females, and almost 10 % of male international students could be classified as problem gamblers. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that male gender, international student status, financial stress, negative affect and frequency of gambling on sports, horses/dogs, table games, casino gaming machines, internet casino games and bingo all significantly predicted problem gambling. Results from this study could inform gambling-education programs in universities as they indicate which groups are more vulnerable and specify which games pose more risk of problem gambling.     

Generational Shifts in Language Use Among US Latinos: Mobility,Education and Occupation

The role of language and linguistic assimilation among Latinos has a direct impact on both education and occupation in terms of social mobility. The relationship can be examined with a generational context as language usage changes from first generation immigrants to third generation immigrants. The specific question being addressed herein is whether language or ethnicity had more impact on Latinos’ mobility in terms of educational achievement and occupational prestige. Results presented in this paper imply the importance and impact of the maximization of the accumulation of linguistic capital in order to accelerate the acquisition of educational attainment.     

Adolescent Career Development in Urban‐Residing Aboriginal Families in Canada

The purpose of this study was to understand how urban‐residing Aboriginal adolescent–parent dyads (n = 11) jointly constructed and acted on goals and strategies with their social supports (n = 17) to facilitate the adolescents' career development. A modified protocol following the qualitative action‐project method was used. A discrete joint project was identified for each family. These joint projects can be clustered into 3 joint career development projects: (a) navigating toward a safe future, (b) negotiating school continuance, and (c) intergenerational continuity through tradition of care. A 4th project emerging from the data was family survival. Family survival projects supplanted participants' efforts to engage in career development projects.     

An Olympic‐sized Challenge: Effect of Organizational Pathology on Maintaining and Repairing Organizational Legitimacy in Sports Governing Bodies

Private organizations increasingly wield public authority, with substantial impact on the lives of individual persons. Such authority is often paired with enhanced public scrutiny and decreased trust in the relevant organization, leading to a loss of legitimacy. This paper uses sports governing bodies to contribute to the literature on governance by developing theory on the interaction between organizational legitimacy and pathological internal structures. It takes a nuanced view of legitimacy and extends a model of organizational pathology. While primarily conceptual, the paper uses the well‐documented cases of the International Olympic Committee and, to a lesser extent, FIFA to illustrate how organizational pathology can not only undermine an organization's legitimacy, but can also interfere with its ability to perceive a path to legitimacy repair, even when it recognizes the necessity of doing so. The paper concludes with recommendations for practice and suggestions for future research looking beyond sports governing bodies.     

Fuzzy choice functions

The R-greatest and maximal sets of standard choice theory are extended to fuzzy R-greatest and fuzzy maximal sets. Unlike the precise counterparts of these concepts, these two sets do not in general coincide when preferences are reflexive and connected. A stronger than usual version of connectedness under which the two sets are equal is provided. The concept of a fuzzy choice function is introduced and conditions under which a fuzzy choice function may be rationalized as a fuzzy R-greatest or a fuzzy maximal set are discussed. Rationalizability with transitive and weakly transitive fuzzy preference relations is also considered.We are indebted to Professor P. K. Pattanaik for his comments on an earlier version of this paper. We also wish to acknowledge comments made by an anonymous referee from which this paper has benefited greatly. The usual caveat about errors applies.