Future Sex Educator Perceptions of Rural Versus Urban Instruction: A Case for Community-Centered Sexual Health Education

Instructors of sexual health courses in rural areas face unique challenges as they are often forced to use school-based prevention curricula field-tested in urban areas. Research has yet to consider what future sex educators’ regional expectations are for their profession and how those expectations might have an impact on the classroom. Drawing from interviews with 26 sex-educators-in-training, we find that future educators tended to expect that rural communities would be less diverse, more conservative, and less informed about sexual health matters, even though research demonstrates that today's rural communities inconsistently align with those perceptions.     

Towards multidimensional approaches to early childhood science education

In this forum paper, I respond to issues raised by Kristina Andersson and Annica Gullberg in their article titled What is science in preschool and what do teachers have to know to empower children? (2012). I seek to continue the discussion begun with Andersson and Gullberg’s paper, by further exploring the questions they introduce to guide their paper: “What is science in preschool?” and “What do teachers have to know to empower children?” In particular, I elaborate on the value of drawing on multiple perspectives and different epistemological frameworks, and I argue for the need for a reconceptualized notion of science as a school discipline; one that acknowledges the multifaceted ways in which young children engage in science.     

Managing Patient-centered Communication across the Type 2 Diabetes Illness Trajectory: A Grounded Practical Theory of Interactional Sensitivity

This article uses the theoretical and methodological framework of Grounded Practical Theory (GPT) to provide a lens for analyzing and interpreting discourse as a situated form of social action in routine Type 2 diabetes visits. Drawing on a total data-set of 400 audio-recorded routine visits, we randomly selected 55 visits for qualitative analysis. In this article, we use Conversation Analysis to document communication techniques, which we in turn use as evidence to ground our claims within the GPT framework. We use two single cases of interaction to analyze communication techniques physicians use when recommending a change from oral medication to insulin. We argue treatment intensification is a key moment in health communication to reflect about patient centeredness because physicians can find themselves in an interactional dilemma: while insulin may effectively help control unstable disease, an insulin recommendation may simultaneously counter patient values and treatment preferences. Our analysis suggests that physicians use what we call interactional sensitivity to balance medical need and patient preferences when making medical decisions by tailoring their communication according to the local situation and the patient's larger illness trajectory. We propose that interactional sensitivity is a type of communication work and a quality of patient-centered communication characterized by the theoretical relationship between tailoring communication to the contingencies of the local interaction and the global illness trajectory. Overall, this article contributes to health communication scholarship by proposing a normative model for reflecting on how physicians negotiate challenging interactions with patients during routine chronic illness visits.     

Sex Bias and the Validity of Believed Differences between Male and Female Interscholastic Athletic Coaches

Abstract

Previous research indicates that young athletes as well as athletic administrators hold gender-role stereotypical beliefs about coaches that disfavor females. The validity of two such beliefs (lack of qualified female coaches and time constraints due to family responsibilities) was examined in a statewide survey of 256 female and 296 male interscholastic coaches and a nationwide survey of 2,719 male and 1,449 female interscholastic coaches. Statistical analyses (p < .001) indicated that female coaches were (a) more qualified than their male counterparts with respect to coaching experience with female teams, professional training, and professional experience; (b) as qualified as male coaches with regard to intercollegiate playing experience; and (c) less qualified than male coaches with respect to high school playing experience and coaching experience with male teams. Findings also indicated that male rather than female coaches more often experienced time constraints due to family responsibilities.     

Conflict, Social Competence, and Gender: Maternal and Peer Contexts

The current study was designed to address two major purposes. The first goal was to investigate the joint influence of children's sociometric status and sex on their conflict behavior, and the second goal was to explore the similarities and differences in children's conflict behavior across two contexts, specifically conflicts arising during interactions with mothers and with peers. Forty-two first-graders were videotaped playing with their mothers and then with an unfamiliar peer partner. Conflict behavior occurring in the mother-child context was quite different from that occurring between children, reflecting the contrast between the vertical and horizontal nature of these relationships. Most striking were the large number of sociometric status and sex differences in conflict behavior found across both contexts. Further, it appears that effective conflict behavior may differ for boys and girls. Implications for future research are discussed.     

“Hispanic” children: Theoretical,empirical, and related policy issues

Not only are school-age ethnic and racial minority children one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population, they are also one of the most vulnerable. Hispanic children in particular are representative of the at-risk status of minority populations, displaying a portrait of unrealized social, educational, and employment success. This paper addresses the background and history of U.S. social and educational policies as they relate to the Hispanic student. Recent empirical findings are presented which support the following: (a) the bilingual character of Hispanic children is not a linguistic, cognitive, or educational liability and, in fact, should be employed to promote academic achievement; (b) the culture of the Hispanic family and child are better understood with regard to socialization variables and the potential differences they produce when directly compared to Anglo culture; and (c) educational strategies for Hispanic students that respect and integrate students' social, psychological, and linguistic attributes serve students effectively.     

Resilience to adult psychopathology following childhood maltreatment: evidence from a community sample

OBJECTIVE: Child abuse is an important risk for adult psychiatric morbidity. However, not all maltreated children experience mental health problems as adults. The aims of the present study were to address the extent of resilience to adult psychopathology in a representative community sample, and to explore predictors of a good prognosis. METHODS: Data are drawn from a follow-up of the Isle of Wight study, an epidemiological sample assessed in adolescence and at midlife. Ratings of psychiatric disorder, peer relationships and family functioning were made in adolescence; adult assessments included a lifetime psychiatric history, personality and social functioning assessments, and retrospective reports of childhood sexual and physical abuse. RESULTS: Ten percent of individuals reported repeated or severe physical or sexual abuse in childhood. Prospective measures revealed increased rates of adolescent psychiatric disorders in this group. Rates of adult psychopathology were also high. A substantial minority of abused individuals reported no mental health problems in adult life. Resilience of this kind was related to perceived parental care, adolescent peer relationships, the quality of adult love relationships, and personality style. CONCLUSION: Good quality relationships across childhood, adolescence and adulthood appear especially important for adult psychological well being in the context of childhood abuse.