The relationship between Marcia's ego identity statuses and selected personality variables in an African context

Marcia's operationalization of Erikson's identity construct, the four identity statuses, was used in a study on late adolescent males in an African cultural context. Identity statuses were determined for 110 first-year university students in relation to global identity, as well as occupation, religion and politics, the content areas of Marcia's original Identity Status Interview. Personality dimensions were measured by the High School Personality Questionnaire and the IPAT Anxiety Scale. Contrary to findings obtained in Western settings, adolescents in the foreclosure status (global identity) displayed lower intelligence and concrete thinking patterns. Identity statuses relating to the individual content areas were both supportive and in conflict with findings obtained in Western studies, indicating possibly qualitative differences in an African situation.     

性别身份在汉语广告中的构建——批评话语分析

文章以汉语广告中针对不同性别消费者的语篇作为语料,用批评性话语分析的方法对广告语言进行分析,并揭示性别身份在广告语篇中的构建过程。分析发现语篇里隐含有对不同性别身份所持有的不同观念和态度,针对男性消费者的广告语篇更主动,而针对女性消费者的语篇则被动,现时是一个男女性别仍不平等的社会。     

Racial identity,maternal support,and psychological distress among African American adolescents

This study investigated the role of racial identity and maternal support in reducing psychological distress among African American adolescents. Both direct and indirect influences of multiple dimensions of racial identity (i.e., centrality, private regard) and maternal support on perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and anxiety were examined among 521 African American twelfth graders. Findings indicated that maternal support was positively related to both centrality and private regard. Results provided little support for a direct association between racial identity or maternal support and depressive symptoms and anxiety within a multivariate context. Rather, the influences of racial identity attitudes and maternal support on these mental health outcomes were mediated by perceived stress. Further, the two racial identity attitudes were associated with perceived stress in different ways. Study findings suggest that the significance and meaning that African American adolescents attribute to being Black may be critical to their psychological well-being, and that maternal support and perceived stress are important considerations.     

Risky Business: South African youths and HIV/AIDS prevention

Behavior change is the only available means of curtailing new HIV infections in South Africa. This study investigated the relationship between sexual risk taking and attitudes to AIDS precautions. The participants were about 25% white, about 30% colored/mixed blood and 45% black in their second year in polytechnics (413 females and 402 males). Participants responded to the 40-item HIV-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. Data indicated that young women showed more positive attitudes to AIDS precautions than young men (reflecting in part the stereotypic negative attitudes of young men toward condoms). In general, most males and females were found to have less knowledge about HIV transmission and less favorable attitudes toward safe sex behavior than their counterparts in the west. Also young men with more partners expressed more fatalistic attitudes toward AIDS. The possibility that a finergrained multivariate analysis of attitudes to AIDS and safe-sex behaviour is something that needs to be taken seriously in future research, however.     

Intergroup Attitudes among Ethnic Minority Adolescents: A Causal Model

To examine the influence of ethnic idenilty and intergroup contact on adolescents' attitudes toward other ethnic groups, we studied eighth and eleventh graders from 2 predominantly non-white school districts. Surveys completed by 547 adolescents from 3 ethnic groups (133 African Americans, 219 Latinos, and 195 Asian Americans) assessed in-group and out-group attitudes, out-group interaction, out-group contact, and ethnic identity. A causal model suggested 2 pathways leading to positive out-group attitudes. In one pathway, ethnic identity increased with age and predicted positive in-group attitudes; these attitudes contributed to positive out-group attitudes. In a separate pathway, ethnic diversity outside of schcool led to more out-group interaction in school, which in turn predicted positive out-group attitudes. The results support developmental and multiculturalism views of intergroup relations.     

Racial identity and academic attainment among African American adolescents

In this study, the relationships between racial identity and academic outcomes for African American adolescents were explored. In examining race beliefs, the study differentiated among (a) importance of race (centrality), (b) group affect (private regard), and (c) perceptions of societal beliefs (public regard) among 606 African American 17-year-old adolescents. Using cluster analysis, profiles of racial identity variables were created, and these profile groups were related to educational beliefs, performance, and later attainment (high school completion and college attendance). Results indicated cluster differences across study outcomes. Also, the relationships between academic attitudes and academic attainment differed across groups. Finally, the paper includes a discussion on the need to consider variation in how minority youth think about group membership in better understanding their academic development.     

The Effects of Changes in Racial Identity and Self‐Esteem on Changes in African American Adolescents’ Mental Health

This study assessed the unique effects of racial identity and self‐esteem on 259 African American adolescents’ depressive and anxiety symptoms as they transitioned from the 7th to 8th grades (ages 12–14). Racial identity and self‐esteem were strongly correlated with each other for males but not for females. For both males and females, an increase in racial identity over the 1 year was associated with a decrease in the prevalence of depressive symptoms over the same period, even with self‐esteem controlled. It was concluded that racial identity may be as important as self‐esteem to the mental health of African American adolescents, and it explains variance in their mental health not associated with feelings of oneself as an individual.     

School Cultural Socialization and Academic Performance: Examining Ethnic-Racial Identity Development as a Mediator Among African American Adolescents

Historic racial disparities in the United States have created an urgent need for evidence-based strategies promoting African American students’ academic performance via school-based ethnic-racial socialization and identity development. However, the temporal order among socialization, identity, and academic performance remains unclear in extant literature. This longitudinal study examined whether school cultural socialization predicted 961 African American adolescents’ grade point averages through their ethnic-racial identities (49.6% males; M_age = 13.60; 91.9% qualified for free lunch). Results revealed that youth who perceived more school cultural socialization had better grades 1 and 2 years later. In addition, identity commitment (but not exploration) fully mediated these relations. Implications for how educators can help adolescents of color succeed in schools are discussed.     

Family Interaction Patterns,Career Planning Attitudes,and Vocational Identity of High School Adolescents

The purpose of the current study was to examine how perceptions of family interaction patterns as defined along three dimensions of family environment (quality of family relationships, family goal-orientations, and degree of organization and control within the family system) predict vocational identity and career planning attitudes among male and female adolescents living at home. One hundred twenty three high school students completed measures of family environment, vocational identity, and career planning attitudes. Analyses revealed that the quality of family relationships (i.e., degree to which family members are encouraged to express feelings and problems) played a small, yet significant role in predicting career planning attitudes of adolescents.     

Is There a Double Standard of Aging?: Older Men and Women and Ageism

This study was designed to determine current young adults' attitudes toward older adults and to explore, more specifically, whether they hold different attitudes towards older men and women. An additional objective was to examine the association between knowledge of aging processes and attitudes towards older adults. A total of 405 (210 males, 195 females) undergraduate students at a small Midwestern university were assessed on their attitudes toward an older male and an older female and on their knowledge of aging. Data analyses revealed that the participants showed more positive, rather than negative, attitudes towards older adults, and they rated older women significantly more positively than older men. No relationship was found between knowledge of aging processes and attitudes toward aging. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Gender differences in attitudes towards learning oral skills using technology

This paper reports a quantitative study on gender differences in attitudes when learning oral skills via technology. The study was conducted at Tafila Technical University, Jordan, with 70 female and 30 male students, to find out if female students are better and faster in learning a language than male. Specifically, it seeks to investigate differences in attitudes between females and males in terms of practicality, confidence and anxiety. The results of the study show that there were no significant differences between female and male students when comparing the pre- and post-test mean scores. Both genders establish the same levels of attitudes before and after undergoing this course, which suggests that the exposure to language learning using technology did not contribute to any significant gender inequality. The paired sample t-test results showed improved attitudes toward learning oral skills in both females and males. The study also indicates female and male improvement in the anxiety dimension showing that their initial strong apprehension toward this course was greatly reduced at the end of the course. In terms of confidence, female showed better enhanced confidence level than male at the end of the course.     

The roles of teacher and student gender in German teachers’ attitudes toward ethnic minority students

Implicit and explicit attitudes play crucial roles in teachers’ judgments and behavior and might be part of the reason for the varying school performances of ethnic minority compared with ethnic majority students but also of female compared with male students. In this study, we investigated 80 female and 80 male German secondary school teachers’ implicit and explicit attitudes toward female and male Turkish students, expecting more favorable attitudes toward same-gender students. However, implicit and explicit attitudes toward male and female students were independent of teachers’ gender. An IAT revealed more negative implicit attitudes toward female than male ethnic minority students, while teachers explicitly favored female ethnic minority students. Results are discussed in terms of culturally divergent social norms and gender.     

Attitudes toward family obligation among adolescents in contemporary urban and rural China

A sense of obligation to support, assist, and respect the family was examined among approximately 700 urban and rural 10th- (M = 16.6 years) and 12th- (M = 18.9 years) grade students in the People's Republic of China. Urban male adolescents reported a weaker sense of family obligation than did rural male adolescents and both urban and rural female adolescents. Only children did not differ from those with siblings in terms of their attitudes toward family support and respect. A sense of family obligation was generally associated with more positive family relationships and a higher level of academic motivation among Chinese adolescents. Discussion focuses on how the shift to a market economy may influence adolescents' identification with the family in contemporary China.     

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TAIWANESE ADOLESCENTS' MATHEMATICS ATTITUDES AND THEIR PERCEPTIONS TOWARD VIRTUAL MANIPULATIVES

This study explored gender differences in the relationship between young people's mathematics attitudes and their perceptions toward virtual manipulatives. Seven hundred eighty junior high school adolescents who participated in the problem-solving activity using virtual manipulatives were selected for examination. The study found the male adolescents' views on motivation and enjoyment of mathematics could explain many aspects of their perceptions toward virtual manipulatives. The female adolescents' views on the importance of mathematics and freedom from fear of mathematics could explain many aspects of their perceptions toward virtual manipulatives. However, motivation, enjoyment, and importance of mathematics were more prominent than freedom from fear of mathematics in predicting male adolescents' perceptions toward virtual manipulatives, and freedom from fear and importance of mathematics were more prominent than enjoyment and motivation of mathematics in predicting female adolescents' perceptions toward virtual manipulatives. Two implications can be drawn from this study. First, teachers could provide males with appealing problem contexts not only to be used to remove the fear of mathematics, but also to be used for enjoyment and as motivation to see the importance of mathematics. Then male students could be encouraged to have more confirmed positive perceptions toward virtual manipulatives when engaging in the activities of computer-based mathematics. Second, teachers could provide females with interesting teaching activities, not only to be used for motivation and the enjoyment of mathematics, but also to be used to remove the fear of mathematics and for experiencing the importance of mathematics. Then female students could have positive perceptions toward virtual manipulatives when technology was integrated into the classroom to enhance learning and to support effective mathematics teaching.     

PREDICTING EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL‐BEING IN ADOLESCENTS USING TIME ATTITUDE PROFILES

Using cluster analysis of Adolescent Time Attitude Scale (ATAS) scores in a sample of 300 adolescents (M age = 16 years; SD = 1.25; 60% male; 41% European American; 25.3% Asian American; 11% African American; 10.3% Latino), the authors identified five time attitude profiles based on positive and negative attitudes toward the past, present, and future. Four of the profiles identified in the present study were conceptually similar to profiles that emerged in a study in a German sample. Adolescents with profiles characterized by higher positive attitudes than negative attitudes (i.e., Positive, Optimistic, and Balanced) reported more favorable educational and psychological outcomes than did adolescents with profiles marked by higher negative attitudes (i.e., Negative and Pessimistic). These findings provide support for the generalizability of time attitude profiles and the pattern of relationships between ATAS profiles and other constructs.     

Decisions and attitudes concerning child sexual abuse: does the gender of the perpetrator make a difference to child protection professionals?

Objective: An investigation was conducted into whether child protection investigators, specifically social workers and the police, are as likely to take seriously a case of child sexual abuse if it had been perpetrated by a female rather than a male. Also, to examine whether the decisions relating to female-perpetrated abuse were predicted by participants’ sex role perceptions of women and their attitudes concerning women’s sexualized behavior towards children.Method: Participants advocated decisions in response to four hypothetical case of child sexual abuse in which the perpetrator was either male or female. The female perpetrators were then rated on femininity and masculinity characteristics and attitudes concerning women’s sexualized behavior toward children were assessed.Results: Following male—rather than female—perpetrated sexual abuse, case registration and imprisonment of the perpetrator was considered more appropriate by all participant groups; male social workers also considered social services involvement and investigation as more appropriate. A substantial number of decisions concerning female perpetrated abuse were predicted by participants’ attitudes.Conclusion: While child protection professionals considered child sexual abuse perpetrated by females to be a serious issue warranting intervention, a number of advocated decisions suggested that they did not consider female-perpetrated abuse to be as serious as male-perpetrated abuse. The implication is that victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by a woman may be less likely to receive the protection afforded victims of male-perpetrated abuse. Furthermore, professionals’ practices may be inadvertently perpetuating the view that female child sexual abuse is rare or less harmful than abuse carried out by males.Spanish abstract was not available at time of publication.     

An Exploratory Study of Undergraduates’ Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action Policies for Asian Americans in College

This exploratory study examined white undergraduate students’ (a) racial attitudes towards Asian Americans, (b) principled policy attitudes toward affirmative action, and (c) self-interest in relation to their support for college-based affirmative action policies for Asian Americans at a Midwestern university. A sample (n = 264, 28% male, 72% female) of white undergraduate students from a mid-sized public university in the Midwest was surveyed. The findings indicate that white undergraduate women have significantly more favorable principled policy attitudes toward affirmative action in general and for an affirmative action college policy for Asians, in particular, than do undergraduate males. Implications for issues of equity and social justice are shared.     

Learning to be Violent: The role of the school in developing adolescent gendered behaviour

This paper examines the role of the school, and of the peer group culture in particular, in constructing male and female identity among adolescents within the context of high levels of gender violence. It draws on a DfID-funded study into the abuse of girls in schools in three African countries (Zimbabwe, Malawi and Ghana). This study documents incidents of male teachers and older male pupils aggressively propositioning female pupils for sex, 'sugar daddies' preying on schoolgirls in the vicinity of the school, and generally high levels of corporal punishment and bullying. The abusive behaviour of boys towards girls (and also towards younger or more vulnerable boys) in school is in part the product of a peer culture which stresses male competition and sexual prowess as part of the process of learning to 'be a man'. Alongside other studies (Wood & Jewkes, 1998; Leach & Machakanja, 2000; Human Rights Watch, 2001) it reveals a worrying sexual socialisation process in which male violence is accepted as the norm in adolescent relationships while obedience and tolerance continue to be expected of girls. This can lead to aggressive male behaviour being normalised and perpetuated in adulthood. Schools and education authorities are guilty of contributing to this socialisation as long as they fail to take vigorous measures to stamp out all forms of violent behaviour and to actively promote constructive adolescent relationships. Lessons can be learnt from those few innovative programmes with adolescents which provide genuine examples of the promotion of equal gender relations, personal responsibility, respect for others and cooperation between individuals. It is part of the school's mission not just to foster academic learning but to teach life skills which include supporting adolescents in developing constructive relationships.     

Influences on intercultural relations: Counseling implications for American adolescents in Germany

A comparison of the relative importance of variables shown to influence the outcome of interracial contact was made in an intercultural contact situation. Implications of the findings for counseling applications were discussed. The variables studied were: amount of contact, length of time living in the country, norms, personal association, initial attitudes toward the country (expectations and first impressions), and attitudes toward people in general. The subjects were 199 American adolescents living in Germany and enrolled in on-base American schools for military dependents. The data were collected by questionnaires administered by faculty members at the schools during regular class time. Attitudes toward Germans, attitudes toward Germany and social distance toward German adolescents were utilized as the dependant variables. The analyses controlled for past intercultural experience and the age, sex, and ethnic group of the subjects. Three variables affected subjects' attitudes toward Germany: norms, first impressions, and sex of subject. The same three variables plus attitudes toward people affected attitudes toward Germans. Three different variables affected the social distance scale: age, sex, and expectations. Age and sex were control variables and appear to be artifacts of the particular social climate of the situation under study. Thus, norms, first impressions, expectations, and attitudes toward people appear to be the major influences on attitudes toward members of another culture. Amount of contact, length of time living in the country and personal association do not appear to be important in intercultural interaction. Suggestions were made for the preparation of educational programs and for family, group and individual counseling for families with adolescents who are transferred to new cultural environments.     

Attitudes Toward Computers of Gifted Students and their Teachers

One of the prerequisites for acceptance and implementation of computers in an educational system is a positive attitude of both teachers and students toward their use. This research, therefore, focuses on differences in attitudes toward computers between male and female teachers, female and male gifted students, and teachers and gifted students. Samples consisted of 217 gifted students (115 males and 102 females) and 125 teachers (30 males and 95 females) in the Amman Educational District, Jordan. Computer attitudes were measured by means of the Attitudes of Both Teachers and Students Toward Computers Questionnaire, and compared statistically to variables such as performance in mathematics, IQ, gender, teachers’ experience in teaching and computing, and teachers’ training. Results showed that participants are generally positive towards computers, and there were no significant differences in attitude between gifted students and teachers or between males and females. Attitudes towards computers, however, may be predicted by performance in mathematics and by IQ scores.