Contemporary poetry for the high school

The inadequate number of American young adults selecting a scientific or engineering profession continues to be a major national concern. Using data from the 23-year record of the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY) and working within the social learning paradigm, this analysis uses a set of 21 variables to predict young people's employment in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, or medicine (STEMM) at ages 36 to 39. The LSAY is one of the longest and most intensive longitudinal studies of the impact of secondary education and postsecondary education conducted in the United States. Using a structural equation model, the study found that mathematics continues to be a primary gateway for STEMM professions, beginning with algebra track placement in grade eight and continuing through high school and college calculus courses. Home and family factors such as parent education and parent encouragement of science and mathematics during secondary school also enhanced the likelihood of entering a STEMM profession.     

An economical school paper

Utilizing data from the 20-year record of the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY), this analysis uses a set of variables to predict employment in engineering for a national sample of adults aged 34 to 37. The LSAY is one of the longest longitudinal studies of the impact of secondary education and postsecondary education conducted in the United States. A structural equation model found that mathematics is a primary gateway to an engineering career, beginning with algebra track placement in Grades 7 and 8 and continuing through high school and college calculus courses. Home and family factors such as parent education and parent encouragement of science and mathematics during secondary school also enhanced the likelihood of a young adult becoming a professional engineer. In addition, young men were substantially more likely to become professional engineers than young women. Considering each of these factors, this article seeks to understand the varied pathways available to students interested in engineering careers.     

Do the Paths to STEMM Professions Differ by Gender?

In this article we examine gender differences in factors related to science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) education and employment between the ages of 36 and 39. Using data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth, we identified a STEMM high school talent pool. We found early gender differences in interest in engineering, although we found no such differences in entry into a general STEMM undergraduate major. Throughout the course of the study, we developed and tested structural equation models. We discovered that there were no major gender differences in family encouragement or precollege educational experiences, except that high school boys were slightly more likely to take calculus in high school. There were no significant differences in entrance into medicine and other health professions, but there were substantial gender differences in earned engineering degrees and employment in engineering. The completion of a graduate or professional degree was a stronger predictor of female employment in a STEMM profession than for young men. Among young adults with academic qualifications for a STEMM profession, the presence of children 18 years of age or younger in the family made no difference in the likelihood of employment in a STEMM profession.     

On sabbatical leave

This article argues for the need to differentiate between professional and support careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM). Using data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY), the article identifies important differences in the nature of the work and responsibility that differentiate the scientific workforce into a professional component and a support component. Further analysis demonstrates that the kind of training and education needed for STEMM support occupations is generally lower and different than the education needed for entrance into a STEMM profession. The LSAY data indicate that the students planning to enter a STEMM profession tend to make their choice earlier, select appropriate courses and programs to obtain professional credentials, and make a substantially longer commitment to educational preparation than do young adults who enter STEMM support occupations. We suggest some policy implications that may flow from this distinction.     

An empirical examination of the effects of family commitment in education on student achievement in seventh grade science

A national data base from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY) was employed to examine the effects of family commitment in education on student achievement in seventh grade science. The backward elimination procedure in the Statistical Analysis System (SAS) was adopted in this study to select significant variables of family commitment at α = .05. The results show that around 22% of the variance in student science achievement can be explained by the selected significant LSAY variables. An analysis of the impact of family commitment seems to indicate that parental education and encouragement are important factors in the improvement of student achievement. However, educators, including school personnel and parents, should exercise caution regarding how they help students with their homework and how they reward students for good grades.     

Risk factor or social vaccine? The historical progression of the role of education in HIV and AIDS infection in Sub-Saharan Africa

Numerous epidemiological studies from the early years of the tragic HIV and AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa identified formal education as a risk factor increasing the chance of infection. Instead of playing its usual role as a preventative factor, as has been noted in many other public health cases, until the mid-1990s educated African men and women had a higher risk of contracting HIV than their less educated peers. This led to ambivalent policy about the efficacy of education as a possible social vaccine against new infections in this region. Reported here is a cohort analysis of formal education and HIV infection in 11 African countries showing that among younger adults, who came to sexual maturity after widespread misconceptions and misinformation about the causes of the disease were reduced, more schooling is associated with a lower risk of HIV infection. The results are discussed in light of a critique of past weak hypotheses about how education works as a social vaccine, and a new hypothesis is developed. Policy implications are described for renewed efforts towards the supply of quality education as an important strategy to promote public health in sub-Saharan Africa.     

TURKISH AND U.S. ATTITUDES TOWARD AGING

As people live longer and the number of older adults increases worldwide, it becomes important to understand the factors that influence how we understand and perceive our own aging as well as how we construct our attitudes toward older adults. Although studies have indicated that later adulthood can be a healthy, productive, and satisfying time of life, ageism or prejudice and discrimination against older adults and a fear of the aging process, continues to be a widespread phenomena. The purpose of this study was to compare attitudes and anxieties toward aging of young and middle-aged men and women from the United States and Turkey. The results indicate that significant country and gender differences exist in how people feel about getting older and the age at which they consider themselves to be “old.” Contact with elders as well as education regarding the process of aging appear to have a significant impact on attitudes toward aging.     

From care to education and work? Education and employment trajectories in early adulthood by children in out-of-home care

BackgroundTemporal dynamics during the early adulthood transition among children in out-of-home care is a neglected research area, leaving the possibility of coping with childhood adversity over time a poorly understood topic.ObjectiveTo explore early adulthood education and employment trajectories among young adults who experienced out-of-home care during childhood and to examine how various care history factors predict these trajectories.ParticipantsWe use longitudinal birth cohort data comprising individual-level information from national registers of all children born in Finland in 1987 (N = 59,476, of whom 1893 were in care).Setting and methodsWe use trajectory clustering from a previous study on the 1987 birth cohort to compare trajectories between children in care and a propensity score–matched group of peers never in care. We investigated the association between care history factors and trajectories with multinomial logistic regression modeling.ResultsCompared with the matched peer group, children in care were less likely to enter trajectories characterized by education and employment (38%) and more likely to enter trajectories involving early parenthood (14%) or long periods of fragmented social assistance benefit receipt and unemployment (21%). Those on early parenthood trajectories were almost exclusively women, whereas those receiving social assistance benefits and experiencing unemployment for lengthy periods were mostly men. Entering disadvantaged trajectories was associated with, inter alia, placement as an adolescent, residential care, and aging out of care.ConclusionThe study demonstrates the relevance of examining longitudinal trajectories in children in care’s early adulthood. Many young adults with care experience need support in education and employment beyond young adult age.     

Men engaging boys in healthy masculinity through school-based sexual health education

Young people’s sexual health is a significant concern to parents, educators, health professionals and policy makers in Canada. However, challenges exist with respect to the nature of school-based sexual health education content and mode of delivery. These include the lack of attention paid to the impact of gender ideologies on the development and expression of youth sexuality, and the tendency to exclude boys and young men by focusing primarily on the sexual and reproductive needs of girls and young women. This article discusses findings from a participant observation and focus group study conducted with the facilitators of WiseGuyz, a school-based sexual health and healthy relationship programme, which involves boys aged 13–15 years in Calgary, Alberta. Findings suggest that the process of facilitation is as important as curriculum content in securing positive outcomes for young men. Implications for school-based sexual health education and further research in this area are discussed.     

The Probability for Unemployed Young People to Re-Enter Education or Employment: A comparative study in six Northern European countries

This article examines the return to education or employment of unemployed young people in Northern Europe. Comparative surveys of nearly 8600 unemployed young people in Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Scotland enabled us to study the probability for unemployed young people to re-enter the educational system versus employment. The results showed that, in all countries, re-entering post-compulsory education was mainly dependent on educational capital, as defined by Bourdieu. The respondents' education, their parents' education and parents' support for their children's education had a strong impact on the probability of re-entering the educational system. Social capital, as defined by Coleman, increased the probability of re-entering employment, but had no impact on the probability of re-entering education. Most important, in most countries, young unemployed women had a higher probability of re-entering education than unemployed young men. There were also differences between countries. The results cannot only be explained by access to further education. In Iceland and Scotland, further education is less developed than in the other countries. However, 18% of the sample returned to education in Iceland, compared with only 3% in Scotland.     

France: Education and Vocational Guidance of Girls

The Ministry for Women's Rights started a nationwide informational campaign in early April on the subject "Vocational Guidance and Training for Girls" as a complement to a campaign on employment: Men and women should have the same rights to education, training, and promotion. But this is only possible, the Minister feels, if girls' education is as diversified as boys'. "We must begin to combat inequalities and change habits of thinking in the school, " declared Ms. Roudy, Minister for Womens' Rights. "There is no such thing as professions for women and professions for men. There are professions for all."     

Birth order and parental and sibling involvement in sex education. A nationally-representative analysis

This analysis set out to identify associations between birth order and sexual health outcomes, focusing on family involvement in sex education and early sexual experiences. The third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles is a stratified probability sample survey of 15 162 men and women aged 16–74 in Britain. Logistic regression was conducted to identify odds ratios for the association between birth order and sexual health outcomes. Multiple logistic regression was performed adjusting for socio-demographic factors and sibling number. Middle-born and last-born men had lower odds of reporting ease talking to parents about sex around age 14 and learning about sex from their mothers. Last-born women had lower odds of reporting a parental main source of sex education or having learned about sex from their mother. Findings represent an exploratory analysis in an under-researched area, and provide the basis for further research on the association between birth order and parental involvement in sex education, as well as the role and impact of sex education provided by older siblings.     

Motives,barriers, and ways of communicating in mother-daughter sexuality communication: a qualitative study of college women in Tanzania

In Tanzania, young women aged 15–24 are at high risk for HIV and nearly half (45%) of women experience pregnancy or childbirth before age 19. The HIV epidemic has motivated many parents to overcome cultural taboos and talk with their children about sexuality, but few studies in Tanzania have examined how young adults perceive these discussions. In-depth interviews with 31 Tanzanian college women (ages 18–25) reveal how they make sense of sexuality messages from mothers that are sometimes vague, admonishing and fear-based. Participants identified how mothers focused on the health, educational and social consequences of premarital sex and emphasised the avoidance of men as a strategy to maintain virginity. Mothers avoided providing specific information about safer-sex practices, or strategies to negotiate romantic relationships, sexual pressures or sexual desires. Findings offer insight into how relational and cultural contexts influence mothers’ sexual socialisation and can inform education and intervention approaches that consider the changing cultural landscape. Future qualitative research with mothers is recommended to develop programmes that are more responsive to mothers’ and daughters’ needs.     

贵州布依族浪哨音乐文化特征探析

浪哨是布依族青年男女友谊交往、谈情说爱的一种传统的社交活动,主要流传于贵州南部布依族地区。至今为止它仍是布依族青年男女缔结婚姻的重要方式。从浪哨与布依族民俗以及布依族婚恋文化特征等方面来探析浪哨音乐的文化特质。     

Occupational and educational aspirations and attainment of young adults with and without LD 2 years after high school completion

A national longitudinal database was used to compare the aspirations and attainment of individuals with and without learning disabilities (LD) 2 years after high school completion. Analyses revealed that individuals with LD reported lower graduation rates, were more likely to aspire to moderate- (men) or low-prestige (women) occupations, and were more likely to be employed and less likely to be enrolled in some type of postsecondary education program than their nondisabled peers. High educational aspirations in Grade 12 and successful completion of an academic or college-prep high school program were equally important in predicting 2-year postsecondary status for adolescents enrolled in postsecondary education regardless of disability status. However, depending on disability status, different predictors were identified for individuals who were either employed or out of the workforce. These results point to a continued need for transition planning and support for young adults with LD and suggest ways in which professionals can anticipate and adjust for identified differences in aspirations and postsecondary attainment.     

Reasons Why Older Americans Use Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Costly or Ineffective Conventional Medicine and Recommendations from Health Care Providers,Family, and Friends

We studied four reasons why older adults use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Data were from the 2007 U.S. National Health Interview Survey and its Complementary and Alternative Medicine supplement (n = 10,096, ages 50+, representing 89.5 million adults). Logistic analyses adjusted for the sampling design and were weighted for national representation. A sample representing 25 million older adults said they used CAM because a health care provider recommended it. Other reasons were recommendations by family, friends, or coworkers (20.2 million), ineffective conventional medicine (5.2 million), and costs of conventional medicine (4.0 million). In adjusted results, women were more likely than men to use CAM for all four reasons. African Americans and Hispanics were less likely than Whites to use CAM for most of these reasons. The uninsured were much more likely to use CAM because conventional medicine was too expensive. Those with higher incomes were less likely to do so. Older adults with chronic conditions, especially musculoskeletal conditions or depression, were more likely to use CAM for most of these reasons. Health providers may be particularly likely to recommend CAM for chronic conditions. These recommendations may be reinforced by limited efficacy of conventional medicine for these conditions and its cost. CAM and conventional medicines can interact, causing risks to health. It is, therefore, useful to help health care providers identify patients most likely to use CAM and their reasons for doing so. These are the patients most likely to benefit from conversations about CAM interactions with conventional medicine.     

‘Nervous Energy and Administrative Ability’: The Early Lady Principals and Lady Superintendents in Ireland

At the turn of the twentieth century, middle‐class educated gentlewomen in Ireland had established positions of authority and leadership in the relatively new professions of education and nursing. Acting in the roles of lady principals and lady superintendents, respectively, in education and nursing, many of these women had themselves participated in the social reform movements that led to the establishment of their new professions in the late nineteenth century. This paper critically analyses the roles played by these two distinct but socially related groups of Irish women, who were prominent in the early development of the social practices of education and nursing. The lady principals and lady superintendents entered the public domain as women with supervisory managerial roles, a fact that was in and of itself significant in late Victorian and early Edwardian society. In these roles, they expanded the boundaries of woman’s role, provided role models for other women to follow, and forged networks of support for women. While the performance of their respective roles was mediated by public expectations and by extant gender relationships, they negotiated their way through the constraints of their new public space to achieve their aims of advancing their respective professions.     

Political Partisanship, Voting Abstention and Higher Education: Changing Preferences in a British Youth Cohort in the 1990s

This paper focuses on the relationship between education and political partisanship, using the British Household Panel Study (1991–1999). It is known that partisanship has been falling in Britain since the mid–1950s. However, voting abstention rose only gradually until the June 2001 election where the turnout (at 59 per cent) was the lowest since 1918. Partisanship also fell sharply during the 1990s. Although social class and education are associated with turnout in the USA, no relationship has been reported in the UK, and voting seems to have been perceived as a citizen duty. However, in the light of recent changes in voting patterns and educational participation, this paper investigates the role of education, contextualising education effects in social class and gender effects. The preferences of young people are observed in their late teens, before entering the labour market or higher education, and are compared with those of the same young people in their early 20s, after completing higher education courses or gaining labour market experience. The BHPS yielded a sample of about 500 young people with the required data over the time period. It was hypothesised that dissatisfaction with government performance would take different forms for the more and the less educated, with the more educated shifting preferences to minority parties while the less educated shift preferences to voting abstention. The hypothesis was confirmed for young men. Endorsement of abstention was very high for adolescent women who also seemed to be more influenced by their family's social class. However, by early adulthood a lower proportion of young women endorsed abstention than young men. Strong effects of education were still found with more highly educated young women (as with more highly educated young men) being more likely to have party preferences.     

Learning about sex in later life: sources of education and older Australian adults

This paper examines the preferred sexuality education sources of older Australian adults in later life. Drawing on findings from qualitative interviews with 30 men and 23 women aged 60 years and older, we consider the sources that participants currently use, or would like to use, in seeking information about sex. Where relevant, we examine participants’ experiences of learning about sex in later life using different sources, and the impact these had on their sexual expression, pleasure and well-being. Preferred sources of information include the Internet, the media, health care providers, books and workshops or discussion groups. A substantial number of participants did not actively seek information on sex. For those who had, these educational endeavours could profoundly shape their sexual practices. As such, learning about sex should be viewed as a lifelong endeavour. Our findings carry important implications for the development and delivery of sexuality education for older adults.