Perceived influences on career choices of eleventh graders: Sex,SES, and ethnic group comparisons

The project Sex-Role Values and Career Decision Making was conducted to examine the responses of eleventh-grade high school students to sex-role-related values and to relate these responses to their educational and occupational aspirations. The concern of the present article is the influence of Sex, SES (socioeconomic status), and ethnicity on the reasons students give for their career choices. While students' responses were found to be generally similar across Sex, SES, and ethnic groups, the results indicated that females were significantly less likely than males to mention practical considerations, money, prestige, or status as elements in their career decisions, and more likely to mention helping others and personal achievement. The implications of these sex differences for sex equality in the career selection process are considered.The project reported on in this article was performed pursuant to a grant from the National Institute of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the National Institute of Education, and no official endorsement by the National Institute of Education should be inferred.     

Motivating Participation in National Park Service Curriculum-Based Education Programs

ABSTRACT

The authors explored barriers and motivations associated with high school and middle school classes’ participation in National Park educational programming through interviews with school administrators and surveys with teachers within the immediate vicinity of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Although teachers commonly cited financial barriers to participation, administrators suggested that these were rarely insurmountable. Moreover, perceptions of such constraints did not help to predict teachers’ intentions to participate. Rather, teachers’ intentions to participate were most strongly predicted by their degree of comfort with relating park programs to the subject matter of their courses, their perceptions regarding whether or not the programs will enhance students’ academic achievement, and their expectations of whether the programs will expose students to environmental themes in an enjoyable manner. Results suggest the importance of classroom visits and direct communications with teachers emphasizing that programs are fun, relevant learning experiences that address academic requirements for multiple subjects and are relatively easy to incorporate into pre-existing curricula.     

9970名中学生心理素质的研究

对北京市随机抽取的９９７０名中学生进行自编的《中学生心理素质测验》的测试,结果表明：（１）总体而言,中学生的心理素质水平良好。（２）年级越低,心理素质水平越高,年级越高,心理素质水平越低。（３）初中生的心理素质水平好于高中生。（４）在男女性别差异上,年级越低,男女差异越大,年级越高,差异越小。其中,男生在智力和情绪因子上心理素质水平好于女生,女生在注意力和道德感因子上心理素质水平好于男生。在对初中与高中的男女性别考验中也得到了一致的结论。     

Comparison of public and parochial school patterns of student affect.

The MAACL-R scores of 139 middle and senior high public school students (76 females, 63 males) were compared with those of 403 parochial school students (196 females and 207 males). Parochial school students scored significantly higher on depression, hostility, and dysphoria, and significantly lower on positive affect and overall positive mood. Possible explanations for this pattern are discussed.     

General and specific self-esteem in late adolescent students: race x gender x SES effects

This study assessed the effects of gender, race, and social class on the general and area-specific self-esteem of high school students. One hundred and ninety-five high school students served as subjects in a 2 (gender: male, female) X 2 (race: black, white) X 3 (social class: low, middle and high) factorial design. The Rosenberg General Self-Esteem, the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept, and the Brookover Self-Concept of Ability and School Achievement scales were the measures of either general or specific self-esteem. Females, whites, and lower social class adolescents were consistently lower in their self-esteem scores than were males, blacks, and upper social class teenagers, respectively. White females were found to be lower in general and happiness self-esteem than all other gender by race subgroups. High SES white students were lower on the happiness and behavior self-esteem measures than black students and white middle-class students. Black males and white females were less confident in their school ability than were black females and white males.     

High School Graduation Rates in the United States: Implications for the Counseling Profession

This article reviews a troubling report of a nationwide study of U.S. public high school graduation rates conducted by J. P. Greene (2001) of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. The statistics revealed that fewer students were graduating from high school in the United States than is being reported by school districts, states, and the National Center for Education Statistics. They also revealed that graduation rates were much lower for African American and Latino students than for White students. The author summarizes the research on the consequences of dropping out of school and discusses the implications of these findings for counselors and the counseling profession.     

高中生学习策略调查研究

用自编量表调查了一所重点高中和一所普通高中2658名学生的学习策略状况。因素分析结果显示:高中生学习策略可用一个三层次结构的图式表征,最概括的顶层为主导性和辅助性两大策略群;中间层次为学习态度调整、学习行为管理、学习方法运用、学习环境适应、课外活动调控等五大策略亚群;基层次为良好的学习心态,积极合理规划学习生活,预习和复习总结,营造学习的人际环境,劳逸结合、丰富课余生活等19项策略子群。重点高中学生、成绩好的学生、年级高的学生,在主导性策略方面存在优势,主要体现在学习态度调整和学习方法运用这2个策略亚群上。在学习策略的性别差异上,男生更善于营造学习的人际环境、运用学习行为管理方面的策略,而女生则更注重学习方法运用的策略。     

Cognitive engagement variations among students of different ability level and sex in a computer problem solving game

The study investigated the cognitive engagement processes used by more and less successful learners in a computer problem solving game. These engagement variations were also related to sex and ability differences among students. Performance and engagement were monitored interactively as students learned a computer problem solving game; student comments and notes were also recorded. Results showed the records of more and less successful students to be distinguished by the spontaneous use of self-regulated learning processes — a sophisticated form of cognitive engagement. More successful students also appeared to shift cognitive engagement levels in response to computer game feedback. Success on the computer task and cognitive engagement variations were correlated with student differences in both ability and sex in this sample.This study was funded by the National Institute of Education, Grant No. 400-83-0017. Opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this study do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Institute of Education. The authors wish to thank Marcia Linn and Charles Fisher for their helpful advice, and Susanne Lajoie who served as second rater. Mary Rohrkemper and the Education and Child Development doctoral students at Bryn Mawr College also provided critical suggestions.     

中学生创造性内隐观的调查研究

本研究运用社会效度的方法,对中学生的创造性内隐观进行了调查研究,结果发现:1.中学生的创造性内隐观所涉及的范围广泛,涵盖了认知、人格等许多方面;2.在创造性内隐观上,高中生和初中生差异显著,重点中学和非重点中学的学生差异显著,男生和女生差异显著,这种差异不仅表现在总体上,还表现在许多具体的特征上;并且,各因素间交互作用显著,一种因素对创造性内隐观许多方面的影响通常会随其他因素的变化而变化。这些发现不仅加强了我们对中学生创造性内隐观的了解,还使我们认识到创造性内隐观的可塑性,这对我们培养中学生正确的创造性观、培养学生的创造性和创新精神将具有重要的意义。     

中学生学习主观幸福感及其影响因素的初步研究

以910名从初一到高三的中学生为被试,采用自编的《中学生学习主观幸福感量表》进行研究。结果表明:(1)中学生学习主观幸福感普遍偏低,且存在学校类型、年级的差异,非重点学校学生学习主观幸福感更低;高二、初二学生学习主观幸福感最低。(2)影响中学生学习主观幸福感的直接因素是学习体验和现有学习成绩,其中,前者作用更大。(3)影响中学生学习主观幸福感的间接因素是社会压力和希望学习成绩,它们通过学习体验或现有学习成绩间接作用于学习主观幸福感。     

Links Between Contexts and Middle to Late Childhood Social‐Emotional Development

Guided by the social‐emotional learning (SEL) framework, we studied developmental trajectory patterns of five key competency outcomes spanning middle through late childhood: altruism, empathy, self‐efficacy, aggression, and hyperactivity. We then assessed their links to middle childhood home, parental, and community contexts. Data from the Institute of Education Sciences’ Social and Character Development Program, which comprised nearly 2,400 elementary school students who were followed from Grades 3 through 5, were analyzed using growth mixture modeling. Three trajectory groups emerged for each outcome, which were linked to childhood contexts. Positive parenting was associated with a lower likelihood of following a negative empathy trajectory among children. Neighborhood intergenerational closure promoted a stable self‐efficacy trajectory. Residing in a high‐risk community was linked to increasing normative beliefs about aggression. These findings suggest an important role of contexts in influencing childhood social‐emotional development in the later elementary school years.     

Selected risk factors in adolescent suicide attempts.

This study examined stress, depression, attempted suicide, and knowledge of common signs of potential suicide in Alabama adolescents. A modified version of the National Adolescent Student Health Survey (NASHS) was administered to 3,803 eighth- and tenth-grade public school students during the fall of 1988. The incidence of stress, depression, and attempted suicide was analyzed by gender, ethnicity, locale (urban vs. rural), and participation in sexual intercourse and use of alcohol. Chi-square tests were used to determine if there were significant differences between groups. Findings indicated that females were at greater risk than were males. Both males and females who engaged in sexual intercourse and alcohol consumption were at greater risk than were abstainers. When analyzed by ethnicity, white adolescents who engaged in these behaviors were at significantly greater risk than were those who abstained; differences were not as pronounced for black youth. Comparisons on the knowledge scale indicated that females scored better than males, whites scored better than blacks, and urban students scored better than rural students. The data suggest that many adolescents are having difficulty coping with stress and depression, and that those who are engaging in various types of risk-taking behavior are at greater risk for depression and suicide.     

Sport and Sexuality: Athletic Participation by Sexual Minority and Sexual Majority Adolescents in the U.S.

There are contradictory expectations regarding the relationship between sport and sexuality, one suggesting less sports participation for sexual minority males and more for sexual minority females, with the other hypothesizes no participation differences by sexuality for either males or females. I used the nationally representative Add Health Survey of middle and high school students in the U.S. to assess the degree to which sexual minority and sexual majority boys and girls play sports and the differences in the types of sports that they play. Findings from logistic regression analyses indicated there were very few differences in the degree and type of sports participation by sexuality, but somewhat larger differences as the adolescents move from middle to high school.     

Academic and social self-concept: effects of teaching styles and gender in English as a foreign language setting

This study examined the relationship between academic and social self-concept and teachers’ teaching styles (authoritative, authoritarian and permissive). The participants included 511 school students (53.2% females). They completed the Self-Definition Questionnaire (SDQ-I) and the Teacher Authority Questionnaire. Data were analysed to predict self-concept from teaching styles. On the one hand, females’ academic self-concept was positively predicted by authoritative and permissive teaching. However, their social self-concept was only predicted by permissive teaching. On the other hand, males’ academic and social self-concepts were not predicted by any of the teaching styles. Teaching styles seem to support learning self-concept in female students more strongly than in male students. The findings contribute to social cognitive theories when applied to cross-cultural settings.     

Is there a Relationship between Family Structure and Substance Use among Public Middle School Students?

We investigated the relationship between family structure and substance use in a sample of 2,138 public middle school students in a southern state. The CDC Middle School Youth Risk Behavior Survey was utilized and adjusted logistic regression models were created separately for four race/gender categories (African American females/males, and Caucasian females/males) to examine associations among selected drug use variables (tobacco, alcohol, marijuana and inhalants). Analyses were adjusted for social economic status. Results suggested differences (p ≤ .05) among race/gender groups for the protective effect of living in an intact family (both mother and father, real or adoptive) regarding substance use among middle school students. In addition, family structure appeared to have a stronger relationship with substance use for Caucasians as opposed to African American adolescents. Caucasian adolescents living in cohabitated family households were more likely to report substance use, when compared to those living in intact two-parent households. Adolescents who are undergoing parental divorce may need special attention as they transition into new family structures.     

Gender differences in the psychosocial correlates of suicidal ideation among adolescents.

Gender differences in the psychosocial correlates of suicidal ideation were studied. A sample of 613 high school students (ages 14-19) completed measures of suicidal ideation, depression, hopelessness, life stress, loneliness, alcohol and drug use, and reasons for living. The results of a discriminant function analysis indicated that males reported higher loneliness and substance abuse scores than females whereas females reported greater suicidal ideation, depression, and reasons for living. The results of multiple regression analyses found that, although the same four variables, depression, hopelessness, substance abuse, and few reasons for living emerged as significant predictors of suicidal ideation in both samples, the predictive equation accounted for more of the variance in ideation scores in females (57%) than in males (46%). In a final analysis a discriminant function analysis of the subscales of the reasons for living inventory revealed that females have a greater fear of death and injury whereas males have a greater fear of social disapproval over having suicidal thoughts. This may account for the greater rate of suicide completing among males. Fear of social disapproval, more anger and impulsivity, and less help-seeking behavior among males are offered as potential variables to explain the observed gender differences.     

父母教养方式与中学生自我调节学习的关系

该研究采用中文版父母养育方式评价量表（EMBU）和在Pintrich的动机学习策略量袁基础上自编的自我调节学习量表,探讨了父母教养方式与中学生自我调节学习的关系。研究发现：（1）父母教养方式中的情感因素对中学生自我调节学习有显著的影响：情感温暖因素对认知／元认知策略以及资源管理策略因素有显著的影响;惩罚严厉因素对学习价值和学习期待因素有显著的影响。（2）母亲的教养方式较父亲的教养方式对中学生的自我调节学习影响更大。     

Social and individual risk factors for suicide ideation among Chinese children and adolescents: A multilevel analysis

The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence and predictors of suicide ideation among primary, middle and high school students. We used multilevel modelling to investigate suicide ideation among 12,733 Chinese children and adolescents aged 9–18 years from wide range of areas across China. Approximately, 32.09% of children and adolescents reported suicide ideation, with females were more likely to report suicide ideation than males (38.09% vs. 29.95%). Our results showed that the risk factors in primary school students were different from middle and high school student groups, whereas significant risk factors for middle and high school students were similar. The city's standard of living as indicated by the Engel coefficient and the city's divorce rate were positively associated with the prevalence of suicide ideation; in contrast, the school's pupil‐to‐teacher ratio was negatively correlated with elevated suicide ideation. Significant risk factors for suicide ideation included study anxiety, self‐accusation tendency, impulsive tendency, terror tendency and physical symptoms. These results have important implications for the prevention of suicide, suggesting that both contextual (city‐level) and compositional (individual‐level) factors could be important targets for prevention and intervention for children and adolescents at risk of suicide ideation.     

Self-Cutting and Suicidal Ideation among Adolescents: Gender Differences in the Causes and Correlates of Self-Injury

In recent years, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among adolescents has been identified as alarmingly common place. Some studies have suggested that more than one in eight adolescents have engaged in self-cutting or other self-injuring behaviors. Even more of a concern is that self-injury often foreshadows suicide or suicide attempts. With self-cutting common in middle and high schools, understanding the antecedents and correlates of such behavior may help counselors and others public health officials identify troubled students and initiate preventative measures. This study utilizes data from 2,639 high school students from the Delaware Youth Risk Behavior Survey to investigate the gender differences in NSSI and suicidal ideation. Overall, 13% reported engaging in NSSI within the past year, with females reporting significantly higher rates (17%) of NSSI than males (9%). Results indicate that there are significant gender differences in NSSI and suicidal thoughts based upon previous victimization experiences, reported substance use, depression, health behaviors, and sexual orientation.