‘Learning the basics’: young people’s engagement with sexuality education at secondary schools

School-based sexuality education remains a key response to the HIV epidemic. Drawing on findings from an ethnographic study, this study explores how young people engage with sexuality and HIV- and AIDS-related education as it is delivered through the Life Orientation (LO) learning area in South Africa, in order to understand the dynamics that support or hinder engagement. Focus group discussions were held with Grade 9 and 11 learners (aged 14–18 years) from 16 randomly selected public secondary schools across three provincial districts. Results show that enjoyment of LO education was related to perceived relevance and distinctiveness, informal lesson delivery, subjective assessment standards and seemingly minimal effort. However, the perception of reduced effort tarnished the status of LO and young people’s motivation to participate. Learner engagement is influenced by a variety of cognitive, affective and behavioural pathways including internalised discourse around HIV and AIDS, gender and sexuality; the quality of youth–educator relations and teaching competencies; peer pressures; and broader cultural dynamics. The cultivation of a learning environment in which young people share and debate their views promotes engagement and critical thinking. In-service and pre-service educator training, structured activity plans and monitoring are recommended to advance the content knowledge and pedagogy of educators.     

The role of school psychology in preventing depression

To advance the role of school psychologists in mental health prevention and wellness activities, in this article we describe (a) a social ecological theory for guiding school‐based prevention research, (b) the role of schools in the development and prevention of depression, (c) a continuum of school‐based support for meeting the needs of children who are currently depressed for preventing future internalizing distress for all children, and (d) social and political factors that must be considered if lasting change is to occur. We conclude with specific considerations for school psychologists. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 41: 763–775, 2004.     

Young people and alternative provision: Perspectives from participatory–collaborative evaluations in three UK local authorities

This article reports the findings of four separately commissioned evaluations of alternative provision (AP) undertaken in three local authorities in the UK. The evaluations were specifically predicated on the principles of children's rights and used a combination of qualitative research methods and documentary analysis to elicit the experiences of young people in conjunction with the viewpoints of key stakeholders. Data from each evaluation was gathered over a total period of 6 years. The sites and time scales for each evaluation varied from 6-month authority-wide strategic reviews to a 3-year evaluation of an AP free school and an evaluation of pupil referrals in a large school partnership. The evaluations involved 200 participant children and young people, 30 managers and stakeholders, 8 parents of non-attending pupils and local authority officers and school governors. The evaluations report the complexity of needs amongst children and young people; the continuing problem of unsuccessful transitions between key phases/stages of education and the profound consequences of this for young people; assumptions around mainstream reintegration and managed moves; and the curriculum challenges of vocationalism and academic emphasis. While the research data confirms the positive value of multi-agency approaches in AP, it also shows a more recent troubling increase in the number of young people now being referred to AP as a consequence of their exposure to performative school cultures.     

Free-Time Activities in Middle Childhood: Links with Adjustment in Early Adolescence

This study assessed links between free-time activities in middle childhood (hobbies, sports, toys and games, outdoor play, reading, television viewing, and hanging out) and school grades, conduct, and depression symptoms both concurrently and 2 years later, in early adolescence. It also explored two mechanisms that might underlie activity-adjustment links: whether the social contexts of children's activities mediate these links, child effects explain these connections, or both. Participants were 198 children (M = 10.9 years, SD = .54 years) in Year 1, and their parents. In home interviews in Years 1 and 3 of the study, mothers rated children's conduct problems, children reported on their depression symptoms, and information was collected on school grades from report cards. In seven evening phone interviews, children reported on the time they spent in free-time activities during the day of the call and their companions in each activity. Links were found between the nature of children's free-time activities and their adjustment. The social contexts of free-time activities explained activity-adjustment links to a limited degree; with respect to child effects, evidence also suggested that better adjusted children became more involved in adaptive activities over time.     

Maximal Responses to Treadmill and Deep Water Running in High School Female Cross Country Runners

Abstract

Seven untrained, nonathletic women 19–42 years of age participated in a daily five-minute rope skipping program during a four-week period. As a result of this training program, there was a significant improvement in physical work capacity as judged by pulse response to a standardized submaximal work load, or by the estimated maximal oxygen uptake based upon the pulse response to submaximal ergometer work according to the Åstrand nomogram. It is suggested that rope skipping can be adopted as a simple method of improving the physical work capacity of a large segment of our population.     

Muscle Dysmorphia,Gender Role Stress,and Sociocultural Influences

Abstract

Our study explored the contribution of gender role stress (GRS) and sociocultural appearance demands to symptoms of muscle dysmorphia (MD) in a college sample of 219 women and 154 men. For women, five GRS subscales, sociocultural appearance demands, age, and frequency of aerobic exercise predicted MD symptoms (model R² = .33; F(8,210) = 12.81, p < .001); for men, only one GRS subscale, age, and sociocultural appearance demands predicted MD symptoms (model R² = .40; F(3,150) = 9.52, p < .001). Post hoc analyses revealed that a small number of items explained a substantial portion of the variation, suggesting that MD may be more related to specific perceptions of pressure to attain an attractive body than to global gender role stress.     

Revisiting a year in the sand: An HPT‐style after‐action review

This is a retrospective analysis of the performance of a large training program in a combat environment looked at through the lens of human performance technology. Van Tiem, Moseley, and Dessinger's performance improvement/HPT model and strategic, operational, and tactical levels are used to describe effective and ineffective applications of human performance technology in a complex, multinational operation. While some interventions or projects at the training center showed marked improvements in targeted areas, there were numerous opportunities to do even better work, and the ultimate analysis of the effectiveness of the training center remains to be determined.