How Unequal Is the United States? Adolescents’ Images of Social Stratification

This study highlights the use of pictorial images to understand adolescents’ views on social stratification. A continuum of five visual images of social stratification were presented to a diverse sample of five hundred ninety-eight 8th–12th graders (14–18 years old). Adolescents selected which image best represented the United States (today, in 20 years, how it ought to be). Images ranged from inequitable to egalitarian. Results supported reference group and possible selves theories. Adolescents in higher status families chose a more egalitarian image for how the United States is today and how it ought to be. African Americans considered the United States today more unequal. Differences in adolescents’ commitment to an egalitarian ideal depended on their reactions to inequality and their beliefs about government responsiveness, bolstering the measure's validity.     

High School Students Debate the Use of Embryonic Stem Cells: The influence of context on decision‐making

The present study analyzes decision‐making and argumentation by high school students in a debate situation on a socioscientific issue, the use of embryonic stem cells in research and therapy. We tested the influence on the debates of two different contexts. Adolescent students at the high school level in the same grade (mean age 16.4 years) from rural and urban zones of Provence, France, participated in three debate sessions. During the first session, the students listed the background questions they wanted to ask the expert(s). They were also required to identify one or two major issues that would serve as an outline for the future debate. They then discussed these with the expert(s) during the second session and took note of the answers. During this session, the control groups met with a neuroscientist whereas the experimental ‘contextualized’ group met with the same neuroscientist together with a representative of an association of patients suffering from a neurodegenerative disease. Analysis of the students’ arguments and decision‐making revealed that contextualization introduced dynamism in the students’ exchanges: they paid more attention to their peers’ arguments and were more motivated to argue their own opinion. However, this type of contextualization may contribute to reinforcing ideology in scientific progress.     

How accurate are teacher and parent judgements of lower secondary school children’s test anxiety?

This study examined teacher and mother judgement accuracy of children’s worries and emotionality in the school subjects of German and mathematics. The participants were 59 German language and 58 mathematics teachers, 572 mothers and their children at the end of Grade 6. The analyses for the total sample revealed weak-to-moderate correlations between adult’s and children’s perception of test anxiety. Moreover, we found that teachers overestimated children’s emotionality as well as children’s worry, whereas mothers underestimated children’s worry and overestimated children’s emotionality in both subjects. However, when looking at the highly test-anxious children, we found quite low correlations and an underestimation of children’s worry and emotionality in both school subjects. Thus, it seems important to provide teachers and parents with information about test anxiety and possibly training to improve their judgement accuracy because of moderating effects of test anxiety on achievement.     

Harmonising Higher Education and Innovation Policies: Canada from an International Perspective

This paper focuses on the relevance of harmonising higher education and innovation strategies in the context of fostering economic growth, illustrated by the particular weak point in the case of Canada. The present-day market for highly-skilled labour is global and therefore increasingly porous. A government that wishes to avoid losing its highly-skilled workers to countries that can provide more attractive conditions must aim at investing simultaneously in tertiary education and science and engineering infrastructure. Ideally, supply (higher education) and demand side (innovation) policies would interact in a balanced way. Canada is located at the two extreme ends of investment in higher education and innovation and will be compared to other OECD countries. The paper concludes that seeking policy convergence in innovation and higher education with leading countries is not sufficient to reach growth and can produce disappointing results for talented people whose career expectations may remain unfulfilled. It is therefore crucial for a country to develop higher education and innovation 'in harmony' with the global context and also to achieve harmony between other policies and institutions in its own national context.     

Sexuality issues in adolescents with a chronic neurological condition

Substantial progress in the medical treatment of individuals with spina bifida (SB) has increased the numbers who survive into adolescence and adulthood. However, sexual health in this population has not received much attention. This study explored the knowledge (SB Sexuality Knowledge Scale), worries (SB Worries Scale), romantic appeal (from Harter's Self-Perception Scale), and access to sexuality information of a sample of 60 adolescents from a midwestern state. Study participants reported having sexual feelings like their peers, and they knew they could contract sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) if they were sexually active. However, only a moderate percentage was aware that women with SB are fertile, that adolescent women with SB should take a multivitamin with folic acid, and that latex-free condoms should be used by most adolescents with SB. They did not worry about their ability to make friends; however, these adolescents reported low levels of perceived romantic appeal and they worried about sexuality issues. These sexuality issues were not correlated to measures of SB neurological severity. Although over 50% reported having discussed sexuality with a health professional, 29% reported no one discussed sexuality and SB with them. Data from this study can affect the way health care providers and educators conduct sexuality education in health care and school settings.     

Validation of the Test of energy concepts and values for high school

The Test of Energy Concepts and Values (TECV) was developed to assess knowledge about and attitudes towards energy for grades 9–12. The TECV, a modification of the Energy Knowledge and Attitude Test,

1 See: National Assessment of Educational Progress. Energy knowledge and attitudes: a national assessment of energy awareness among young adults. Denver, CO: Education Commission of the States, 1978.

consisted of 35 knowledge and 39 attitude items. The reliability for the attitude and knowledge sections was 0.70 and 0.76, respectively. Factor analysis was done for the attitude and knowledge sections separately. Item comparison showed that TECV students responses were very similar to the young adults response to the National Assessment instrument.     

A Comparison of Student Persistence and Performance in Online and Classroom Business Statistics Experiences

As universities extend their distance education offerings to reach more time‐ and place‐bound students, the degree to which online students are successful, as compared to their classroom counterparts, is of interest to accreditation review boards and others charged with assessment. Teaching faculty use information about the effectiveness of their instruction to evaluate and improve the learning experience. By comparing persistence and performance measures from the author's five semesters of online and traditional sections of a required undergraduate business statistics course, this paper provides evidence that while there are significant differences in persistence between the two cases, accomplishment of the learning objectives, as measured by the final grade in the course for those students who persist, is independent of the mode of instruction.     

Change in Family Work Status: Effects on Parent-Adolescent Decision Making

The interactions of parental work status, family integration, and sex of child on parent-adolescent decision making were examined in a 4-wave study of 504 adolescents and their mothers. 3 work status groups were compared. Deprived families reported a layoff or demotion at Time 1 and no recovery by Time 4. Recovery families reported similar work status losses at Time 1 and reemployment by Time 4. Nondeprived families reported stable employment at both times. Adolescents in deprived households, especially boys, reported the highest conflict with parents. Adolescents in recovery families reported high conflict when parents were unemployed, but levels declined when parents were reemployed. According to mothers, daughters in deprived households enjoyed the highest level of autonomy of any adolescent group.