Sex and Risk: Parental Messages and Associated Safety/Risk Behavior of Adult Children

The importance of both parent–child conversations about sex and general family communication climates has been emphasized in numerous studies. This study compared general family communication via family communication patterns (FCP) to specific parental communication about sex in understanding young adults’ sexual communication/risk (avoidance, threat, and risk behavior). Results suggest that FCP were stronger predictors of adult children’s perceptions of sexual communication as threatening and overall avoidance of sexual communication with their partners compared to the frequency of and overall quality of parent–child conversations about sex. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are also discussed.     

A Comparative Case Study of Student Preparation for Postsecondary Education: How GEAR UP,Socioeconomic Status,and Race Influence Academic and Non-academic Factors

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of early preparation for postsecondary education and explore the effectiveness of Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP). This comparative case study included 836 students from two cohorts (GEAR UP and Non GEAR UP). We compared high school attendance, retention, behavior incidents, GPA, graduation rates, and college attendance by GEAR UP, socioeconomic status, and race. GEAR UP students performed significantly better on all measures. There were differences found in both cohorts along SES and racial lines; these differences were less pronounced within the GEAR UP cohort. Recommendations for school reform, collaborations between education institutions, and further research are included.     

A critical review of some recent developments in quantitative research on gender and achievement in the United Kingdom

Over recent years the findings of a number of quantitative research studies have been published in the UK on gender and achievement. Much of this work has emanated from Stephen Gorard and his colleagues and has not only been highly critical of existing approaches to handling quantitative data but has also suggested a number of alternative and, what they claim to be, more valid ways of measuring differential patterns of achievement and underachievement between groups. This article shows how much of this work has been based upon rather under‐developed measures of achievement and underachievement that tend, in turn, to generate a number of misleading findings that have questionable implications for practice. It will be argued that this body of work provides a useful case study in the problems of quantitative research that fails to engage adequately with the substantive theoretical and empirical literature and considers some of the implications of this for future research in this area.     

(Mis)Representing underachievement: a rejoinder to Gorard and Smith

This article provides a brief rejoinder to Gorard and Smith’s reply to an article I published in a previous issue of British Journal of Sociology of Education. In that original article I provided a critical review of their quantitative research on gender and education in the United Kingdom. In their reply to this article, Gorard and Smith seem to agree with many of the points I made. However, they appear to be particularly perplexed by why I had written this review given that they feel they have already addressed most of my points elsewhere. In this brief rejoinder I explain very clearly my motivations for writing my original article and refer readers to a more detailed and comprehensive paper where I have responded fully to each and every point raised by Gorard and Smith.     

Racist Harassment in the White Hinterlands: Minority ethnic children and parents' experiences of schooling in Northern Ireland

The present article explores the nature and extent of racist harassment in predominantly white areas. It is based on a case study of Northern Ireland, and draws on data from in-depth interviews with a total of 32 children and 43 parents chosen from the four largest minority ethnic groups in the region: Chinese, Irish Travellers, South Asians and Black Africans. The article demonstrates that racist harassment is a significant problem in schools in Northern Ireland and highlights the varied forms that it can take, from overt acts of physical and verbal abuse to more covert and subtle forms of teasing and 'friendly' banter. It also highlights the central role that schools play within this. More specifically, some schools were found to respond appropriately and effectively to incidents of racist harassment among their pupils. Other schools, however, through inactivity and/or responding inappropriately, were found to not only indirectly reinforce the racist harassment that was taking place, but at times to directly contribute to it. The article concludes by stressing the relevance and importance of schools developing effective strategies for dealing with racist harassment in predominantly white areas.     

Racism,Masculine Peer‐group Relations and the Schooling of African/ Caribbean Infant Boys

The past decade has witnessed the publication of a growing number of important ethnographic studies investigating the schooling experiences of Black students. Their focus has largely been upon student‐teacher relations during the students’ last few years of compulsory education. What they have highlighted is the complexity of racism and the varied nature of Black students’ experiences of schooling. By drawing upon data from a year‐long ethnographic study of an inner‐city, multi‐ethnic primary school, this paper aims to compliment these studies in two ways. Firstly the paper will broaden the focus to examine how student peer‐group relations play an integral role, within the context of student—teacher relations, in shaping many Black students’ schooling experiences. By focussing on African/ Caribbean infant boys, it will be shown how student—teacher relations on the one hand, and peer‐group relations on the other, form a continuous feed‐back loop; the products of each tending to exacerbate and inflate the other. Secondly, by concentrating on infant children, the paper will assess the extent to which these resultant social processes and practices are also evident for Black pupils at the beginning of their school careers—at the ages of five and six.     

The Impact of Library Tutorials on the Information Literacy Skills of Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy Students in an Evidence-Based Practice Course: A Rubric Assessment

This study measures how online library instructional tutorials implemented into an evidence-based practice course have impacted the information literacy skills of occupational and physical therapy graduate students. Through a rubric assessment of final course papers, this study compares differences in students’ search strategies and cited sources pre- and post-implementation of the tutorials. The population includes 180 randomly selected graduate students from before and after the library tutorials were introduced into the course curriculum. Results indicate a statistically significant increase in components of students’ searching skills and ability to find higher levels of evidence after completing the library tutorials.