Influences on Career Choice: The Responses of Ethnic-Minority and Ethnic-Majority Girls

In a study concerned with factors affecting career aspirations, 37 Muslim and 32 non-Muslim secondary-school girls were interviewed and their responses compared in four areas: career aspirations and the extent to which these matched examinations being sat; influences on career choice; when respond-entfirst considered her choice; and attitudes to work. In general, there were minimal differences on aspirations and general influences on careers, but Muslim girls reported more parental involvement, thought about choices later, and were somewhat more instrumental in attitudes to work. These results are discussed in the context of culturally mediated attitudes to education and the interrelationships of career and family life.     

Parents, Careers and Culture: The View of Ethnic-Minority and Ethnic-Majority Girls

In a study concerned with factors affecting career aspirations, 45 Muslim and 71 non-Muslim secondary-schoolgirls completed scales requiring them to rate themselves on attributes chosen for their relevance to careers. Subjects also completed these scales as they believed their parents would rate them. Minimal differences were shown between the two groups and, contrary to stereotype, Muslim girls did not indicate that their fathers would rate them low on such attributes. Interviews conducted with 21 of the Muslim pupils indicated little conflict in their homes over vocational issues and revealed that both parents, but especially fathers, were supportive of higher education and careers for their daughters.     

Readiness to accept Western standard of beauty and body satisfaction among Muslim girls with and without hijab

The purpose of this paper was to determine whether there is a difference in the readiness to accept Western standards of beauty in which thinness is an ideal of beauty and attractiveness, as well in body and appearance satisfaction between Muslim adolescent girls attending madrassa and dressing in accordance with tradition, that is to say wearing hijab, and Muslim adolescent girls who do not wear hijab and who follow contemporary Western‐influenced fashion trends. Both of these groups were also compared to a non‐Muslim group of adolescent girls. The sample consisted of 75 Muslim adolescent girls with hijab, 75 Muslim adolescent girls without hijab and 75 Orthodox adolescent girls. The following instruments were used: the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT‐26), the Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ‐3) and the Contour Drawing Rating Scale (CDRS). The highest level of body satisfaction (despite this group having the highest body weight in the sample) was evident among Muslim adolescent girls attending madrassa and wearing hijab. They also showed significantly less pressure to attain the Western thin‐ideal standards of beauty than adolescent girls who accept Western way of dressing. Research results indicate a significant role of socio‐cultural factors in one's attitude towards the body image, but also opens the question of the role of religion as a protective factor when it comes to the body and appearance attitude among Muslim women who wear hijab.     

Christian versus Muslim employment in Mandatory Palestine

During the British Mandate in Palestine, there existed among the majority Muslim Arab population a perception that the British favoured Christian Arabs for administrative positions. While such a preference was arguably justifiable during the early years of the Mandate, inasmuch as Christian Arabs were initially more qualified from an educational standpoint, over the ensuing years, the number of Muslim youths with a suitable, secular-based education very quickly increased. There nonetheless persisted a perception of Christian favouritism – that is, that Christians still enjoyed preferential treatment with respect to government employment – and this soon came to define a significant Muslim grievance, one that would periodically prove divisive between Muslim and Christian Arabs, not least within the context of the Palestinian nationalist movement. This article seeks to ascertain whether, on the basis of a statistical analysis of the actual numbers of Muslim and Christian Arabs employed by the British Mandatory government and their respective educational qualifications, Christian Arabs did in fact constitute a privileged group. Also considered (in light of certain sociological concepts regarding group and national identity) are the ramifications of such a perception – regardless of whether reflective of the actual reality – with respect to Muslim–Christian unity, the shaping of Palestinian Arab national identity and the relationship between Arab national identity and Islam.     

Group‐based discrimination,national identification,and British Muslims’ attitudes toward non‐Muslims: the mediating role of perceived identity incompatibility

In two studies, we tested a model in which the perceived (in)compatibility of being British and Muslim (identity incompatibility) was expected to mediate between group‐based discrimination and the identifications and attitudes of British Muslims. In Study 1 (N = 76), anti‐Muslim discrimination was associated with lower national identification and more negative attitudes toward non‐Muslims, and these relationships were mediated by perceived identity incompatibility. In Study 2 (N = 70), we additionally found that anti‐Muslim discrimination predicted stronger endorsement of Islamic group rights, and this relationship was also mediated by perceived identity incompatibility. The studies highlight the importance of group‐based discrimination in shaping the perceived (in)compatibility of being British and Muslim, and, in turn, the identifications and attitudes of British Muslims.     

Are Muslims a Distinctive Minority? An Empirical Analysis of Religiosity,Social Attitudes,and Islam

Scholarly and public discourses on Muslim immigrants in Europe have questioned if Islam is an impediment to sociocultural adaptation and whether Muslims are a distinctive group in their religiosity and social values. We use a new survey of 480 British Muslims in conjunction with the British Social Attitudes Survey to examine differences between Muslim and non‐Muslim Britons on religiosity (practice, belief, salience) and moral and social issues regarding gender, abortion, and homosexuality. Muslims are more religious than other Britons, including both British Christians and religious “nones.” Muslims also are more conservative than other Britons across the range of social and moral attitudes. Multivariate analysis shows, however, that much of the difference on moral issues is due to socioeconomic disadvantage and high religiosity among Muslims. Although being a highly religious group in an otherwise secular country renders Muslims distinctive, factors that predict social conservatism among all Britons—high religiosity and low SES—apply similarly to Muslims.     

She writes in many-coloured headscarves! A conversation with Shelina Zahra Janmohamed

Shelina Janmohamed, the British Muslim writer and commentator, feels impatient with the stereotypic labels attributed by the West to Asian Muslim women. Through her memoir, Love in a Headscarf, she breaks out all the miserable images of what it is to be a British Asian Muslim woman, addressing issues that range from Asian marriages to Islamic terrorism and the question of the veil.     

穆斯林大学生网络行为的调查报告——以北京邮电大学民族教育学院为例

穆斯林大学生是特殊的网民,他们的网络行为关系到他们在校的学习生活和未来发展。通过调查发现,他们在网络上表现得格外冷静与客观,对宗教争端与民族矛盾保持谨慎的态度。不轻易在网上透露个人信息,也不愿意透露穆斯林身份。同时,他们欠缺上网的机会,建议学校提供条件,帮助他们获取更多新的知识,交流民族宗教文化。     

Silence, pleasure and agency: sexuality of unmarried girls in Dakar, Senegal

The article investigates the way unmarried Muslim girls in contemporary Dakar construct their sexuality. It explores in what way and to what extent female sexuality is being silenced, and if any, in what way pleasure and sexual agency are present in the narratives of those girls about their intimate lives. Such an analysis is called for in relation to understanding young people’s safe sex practices and concerns about reproductive health and HIV/AIDS. Women’s own experiences and understandings are often downplayed in studies that focus on and reproduce the dominant discourse of patriarchal control. This article shows the silencing in a male-centered construction of pre-marital sexuality in Dakar, but also reveals female pleasure and sexual agency. This multi-dimensional understanding of female sexuality of Muslim girls in Senegal provides a more dynamic insight of the power processes surrounding safe sex practices.     

The Career and Educational Aspirations of Gifted High School Students: A Retrospective Study

In this study the authors used a retrospective method to obtain information about the career aspirations of gifted high school juniors (69 boys and 125 girls). An instrument called the Occupations List (OL) was administered to obtain information about career alternatives considered by each respondent at various ages. The career alternatives considered in an early life period were compared with those considered later in terms of their prestige level and gender traditionality. The career and educational aspirations of gifted boys and girls were also compared. The implications for counseling gifted students with career concerns are discussed.     

British and Pakistani children's understanding of death: Cultural and developmental influences

This study explored British and Pakistani 4‐ to 7‐year‐olds’ (N = 188) understanding of death. The aim was to examine possible influences on the acquisition of the subcomponents of the death concept by investigating how they are understood by children of different ages and cultural and religious backgrounds. Three groups of children were compared: White British and British Muslim living in London, and Pakistani Muslim living in rural Pakistan. In line with previous research (Slaughter, 2005, Aust. Psychol., 40(3), 179), irreversibility of death was one of the first subcomponents to be acquired, while causality was the last. The two groups of British children shared many similarities in their understanding of inevitability, applicability, irreversibility, and cessation. Pakistani Muslim children understood irreversibility earlier than did children in both British groups. In all three cultural groups, children's responses demonstrated very limited understanding of causality. Our findings support the view that aspects of a mature understanding of death develop between the ages of 4 and 7 years and that the process of understanding death as a biological event is, to a great extent, universal. They also suggest that aspects of children's reasoning are influenced by culturally specific experiences, particularly those arising from living in rural versus urban settings.     

Hyper‐affiliation to the Religious In‐group Among British Pakistani Muslim Gay Men

This article examines how British Muslim gay men may safeguard membership in the religious group, which can be threatened as a result of self‐identifying as gay. Twenty British Pakistani Muslim gay men were interviewed. Data were analyze using an interpretative phenomenological analysis through the heuristic lens of identity process theory. The following themes are discussed: (i) ‘gay identity casting doubt upon one's Muslim‐ness’; (ii) ‘Ramadan: a symbolic opportunity to be a “true Muslim”’; and (iii) ‘accepting “Muslim views” and religious authenticity’. Data suggest that threatened Muslim identity can lead to hyper‐affiliation to the religious in‐group, which is achieved through a multitude of substrategies. Practical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Constructing and contesting threat: Representations of white British Muslims across British national and Muslim newspapers

White British Muslims pose a challenge to racialised representations of British Muslims as non‐white, foreign and Other. By drawing on tools from Critical Discourse Analysis to develop Social Representations Theory on a micro‐analytic level, and making connections with other relevant social psychological theories on intergroup relations, this article examines the constructions of white British Muslims as a threat in six national and two Muslim British newspapers. It looks at how discourses are used to create, perpetuate and challenge the ‘hegemonisation’ of social representations in majority and minority press. The findings show that white British Muslims are portrayed as a threat not just despite of, but because of, their position as part of the ‘white British’ ingroup. Consequently, the threat they pose often leads to their Muslimness being emphasised. This was, at times, contested, however, either through direct challenges, or by making the threat ambivalent by drawing on their whiteness.     

Girls and women: challenges for careers guidance practice

This article reviews the position of women in the UK labour market and the increasing complexity of their employment patterns. It criticises current career theory for girls and women and examines enhancers and inhibitors of women's career development. Finally, some promising developments in theory-building for girls and women are briefly discussed, together with some implications for practice.     

Is the hijab protective? An investigation of body image and related constructs among British Muslim women

Previous studies have reported equivocal findings concerning the impact of wearing a hijab, or Islamic head‐ and body‐cover, on Muslim women's body image. Here, we sought to examine that impact using a larger sample of Muslim women than has been relied upon and a wider range of body image measures. A total of 587 British Muslim women completed a battery of scales assessing their frequency and conservativeness of hijab use, body image variables, attitudes towards the media and beauty ideals, importance of appearance, and religiosity. Preliminary results indicated that 218 women never used the hijab and 369 women used some form of the hijab at least rarely. Controlling for religiosity, women who wore the hijab had more positive body image, lower internalization of media messages about beauty standards, and placed less importance on appearance than women who did not wear the hijab. Among women who wore the hijab, hijab use significantly predicted weight discrepancy and body appreciation over and above religiosity. These results are discussed in terms of the possible protective impact among British Muslim women of wearing the hijab.     

Career decision-making difficulties of British and Chinese international university students

This study explored cultural and gender differences in career decision-making difficulties (CDMD) experienced by 109 British and 86 Chinese international university students, and the impact of cross-cultural adjustment on the CDMD of Chinese international students. Results showed no significant cultural differences in overall CDMD, and that the cross-cultural adjustment of Chinese participants was not correlated with their difficulty in career decision-making. Significant cultural differences on the sub-categories of the Career Decision-making Difficulties Questionnaire (e.g. Chinese participants were significantly less ready than British participants to make career decisions) and some significant gender differences (e.g. male participants generally experienced fewer difficulties than female participants in career decision-making) were identified. Age and degree level were negatively related to the level of difficulty the participants experienced in career decision-making. Implications for career counselling and future research directions are discussed.     

Cultural influences on children's understanding of the human body and the concept of life

This study aimed to identify the age by which children begin to demonstrate a biological understanding of the human body and the idea that the purpose of body functioning is to maintain life. The study also explored the influence of education, culturally specific experiences and religion on knowledge acquisition in this domain. Children aged between 4 and 7 years from three different cultural backgrounds (White British, British Muslim, and Pakistani Muslim) were interviewed about the human body and its functioning. At least half of the 4‐ to 5‐year‐olds in each cultural group, and almost all 6‐ to 7‐year‐olds, referred to the maintenance of life when explaining organs' functions and so were classified as ‘life theorizers’. Pakistani Muslim children gave fewer biological responses to questions about organs' functions and the purpose of eating and breathing, but referred to life more than their British counterparts. Irrespective of cultural group, older children understood organ location and function better than younger children. These findings support Jaakkola and Slaughter's (2002, Br. J. Dev. Psychol., 20, 325) view that children's understanding of the body as a ‘life machine’ emerges around the ages of 4–5 years. They also suggest that, despite many similarities in children's ideas cross‐culturally, different educational input and culturally specific experiences influence aspects of their biological understanding.     

The relationship between disposition and career success: A British study

The relationship of the Five‐Factor Model of personality and general mental ability with extrinsic and intrinsic career success was investigated in a British sample of 308 white‐collar workers. Extrinsic career success was associated with both experiential variables and dispositional variables, while intrinsic career success was almost exclusively associated with personality traits. General mental ability contributed to eventual, but not to organization‐specific extrinsic career success; and neuroticism reduced both extrinsic career prospects and intrinsic career evaluations, while agreeableness reduced extrinsic career prospects but enhanced intrinsic career evaluations. However, in sharp contrast to hypotheses, conscientiousness primarily and extraversion secondarily were negatively associated with extrinsic career success. The findings are discussed with respect to extant knowledge and the British national cultural context.     

Dual Identities and Their Recognition: Minority Group Members' Perspectives

Minorities may define themselves at a superordinate (e.g., national) level and also at a subgroup (minority) level. However, others' recognition of such dual identifications cannot be guaranteed. This paper investigates how members of a minority (Muslims in the UK) constructed their superordinate and subgroup identities in such a way as to assert a commonality with British non‐Muslims whilst asserting their religious subgroup's distinctiveness. Reporting qualitative data obtained through interviews (N = 28), the analysis explores how British Muslims negotiated concerns over commonality and distinctiveness through describing themselves as being British in a Muslim way. The implications of these self‐definitions for the theorization of dual identities, their recognition, and intergroup relations are discussed.     

Factors related to eating disorders in young adolescent girls

The objective of this study was to identify factors related to eating disorders in young adolescent girls. Three hundred eighty-five girls who were attending a career conference at a midwestern university completed the Eating Disorder Instrument (EDI) along with a biographical data sheet. The EDI is designed for the assessment of psychological and behavior traits common in eating disorders. While 81% of the young subjects were assessed to be within the range for ideal weight or were underweight, 78% preferred to weigh less. Only 14% were satisfied with their current weight. Findings for each of the subscales used revealed significant differences among the girls based on intact versus broken family; subjects' actual and preferred weight; whether the family ate meals together; average grades; age and grade in school; fathers' occupation; future career plans; place of residence; and feelings toward their mothers.