bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Comparison of Civilizations
Authors: Madan T. N.
Published: March 2007

The social anthropological/sociological oeuvre of Louis Dumont (1911-98) embraced continents: the contrast between the defining ideologies of traditional and modern societies was his central concern. Traditional society represented by India and modern society represented by the West were respectively considered by him to exemplify the principles of holism/hierarchy and individualism/equality. Further, what is `manifest' in one type of society is `latent' in the other. To study the two types of society and ideology in mutual relatedness rather than isolation, they must be compared. Comparison may begin at the local or regional level within a civilization, but it should be built up step by step to cover national variants of a civilization. The ultimate goal is to compare civilizations themselves within the framework of a common humanity. Dumont's studies of India and the West are of the greatest interest for their methodological sophistication as much (if not more) as for their substantive conclusions, which have been the subject of scholarly debate for nearly half a century.
Local Conformity to International Norms
Authors: Boyle Elizabeth Heger , McMorris Barbara J. , Gómez Mayra
Published: March 2007

Using the case of female genital cutting (FGC), the article addresses the question of when local attitudes and practices conform to international norms. One theoretical perspective links attitudes in developing countries to control over the physical environment, arguing that greater control over nature is associated with the rejection of traditional authority and the acceptance of modern science. A competing perspective emphasizes the importance of western scripts as a source of individual identity. The authors use hierarchical models to analyze Demographic and Health Survey data on attitudes toward, and the practice of, female genital cutting in five African countries with anti-FGC policies. They find that institutions that carry `modern' scripts - education, college, mass media and female employment - all reduce the probability that women will favor the continuation of FGC or `circumcision' of their daughters. The effects of factors associated with control over nature were more mixed. The study also finds that Christian women are more likely to express negative attitudes toward FGC.
THE PROMOTION OF WOMEN AT INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN WESTERN EUROPE
Authors: Grimm Susanne
Published: March 2007

The underrepresentation of women in leading positions at institutions of higher education is a social problem throughout Europe. The advancement of women in these institutions is therefore the central question addressed in this article. Advancement of women here refers to the actual legal situation of women. The subject of this enquiry is the implementation of the EC directive on the equal treatment of women and men in national regulations. The central hypothesis is that the individual member countries differ in their implementation. The result of the study is that the advancement of women depends on the `cultural type' of the country in question. In countries of the Romance-Catholic cultural area women experience less equal treatment in national law than they do in countries with a discrepancy between language and religion and of the Germanic-Protestant cultural area.
DISLIKING POLITICS: PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS FOR A SOCIOLOGY OF THE APOLITICAL
Authors: Gilliatt Stephen E.
Published: March 2007

This article seeks to uncover a philosophical basis for negative perceptions of political activity, including an unwillingness to recognise a political realm in the conduct of private life. Drawing on the work of Alfred Schutz and the ethical theory of Stoicism, the ingredients of an apolitical orientation find a cognitive and moral intelligibility which, while not necessarily desirable, can nevertheless make sense of the low reputation in which politics is held and the reluctance to engage in it.
The Internationalization of Labour
Authors: Phillips Daphne
Published: March 2007

This paper is based on an analysis of field work carried out in Trinidad and Tobago. It focuses on the occupational dissatisfaction among nurses in the public health services, which results in a massive exodus of nurses from the government health services to international destinations, particularly in the US. This emigration is enhanced by a change in US migration policy, specifically to facilitate the direction of labour migration. While the migration of nurses from the Caribbean to metropolitan destinations is not a new phenomenon, I argue that the size and direction of this wave of outward migration of female service workers represent new changes in the internationalization of labour in the present period. I examine what is being done in Trinidad and Tobago to retain nurses and enhance the health care services.
The Clinical Approach
Authors: Enriquez Eugène
Published: March 2007

The author shows that a clinical approach has existed in Western Europe, and in particular in France, since the beginning of sociology. This can be shown in the works of Tarde, Le Bon, Mauss, Simmel, Weber and the members of the College of Sociology of the Sacred (G. Bataille, R. Caillois, M. Leiris and others). The author then examines the characteristics of the main trends in contemporary clinical sociology and the basic principles which underlie it.
Urban Sociology Beyond the Theoretical Debate of the Seventies
Authors: Mingione Enzo
Published: March 2007

This article reconstructs the theoretical history of urban sociological studies with particular attention to the critical debate of the seventies and to the most recent developments and perspectives.
An Analysis of the Meaning of Women's Work as Manifested in the British Income Maintenance Schemes
Authors: Land Hilary
Published: March 2007

The conditions under which men and women can claim benefits from the British State income maintenance systems have always been different. This paper shows that one of the main reasons for this is that men's and women's work is assumed to be, and indeed it is thought, ought to be, different. Men's work is, or should, be located in the labour market and is paid: they are breadwinners. In contrast women are primarily dependants whose unpaid work within the family as wives, mothers and daughters only rarely, and then reluctantly, gives rise to a claim to a state benefit. As a result the development of women's claims to maintenance from the state have always been constrained by the desire not to erode women's incentives to give priority to their caring responsibilities or work within the family. Women's paid work in the labour market is accorded less importance than men's work and their claims to maintenance from the state both determine, and are determined by, their relationship to their families as well as to the formal labour market.
Niklas Luhmann: His Contribution To the Sociology of Religion
Authors: Murphy John W.
Published: March 2007

This article examines the version of religion outlined by Niklas Luhmann. In line with the tradition represented by Durkheim, Luhmann argues that religion embodies social reality. Nonetheless, according to Luhmann, society is not an abstract system, but a reality based on a commonly held stock of knowledge. Thus religious activity is the process whereby a common referent for interaction is established, and not something that originates from an abstract system. Religion, in this sense, is social and grounded. In order to illustrate clearly this shift in understanding religion, Luhmann's and Parsons' work are compared.
Max Weber and the Vallabhacharis
Authors: Lütt Jürgen
Published: March 2007

The Vallabhacharis are a Vishnuitic sect of Hinduism and form the largest number of the most important Hindu business people until this day. Max Weber, in his book on Hinduism and Buddhism, devotes about two pages to them, denying a relationship between doctrine and economic performance. This paper shows that he unfortunately had to rely on distorted reports about the sect and that, at a closer look, there are intriguing similarities with later Calvinism.
Sociology as the Defetishisation of Modernity
Authors: Heller Agnes
Published: March 2007

Empirical and theoretical sociology exist in constant tension because of the philosophical aspects of the latter. Philosophy's absolute truth claims assume a shared life experience of all free persons but functionalist modern society confines the production of meaningful world-views to a limited number of intellectuals. They can only discover the experience of others by reifying them through science. None of the empirical research strategies of the sociologist can provide a perfect solution to this dilemma, while theoretical sociology has to operate through generalised concepts of structure and action Marx too had to operate through the fetishistic category of class, and concepts such as state, market and economy are all fetishistic But rational action is by definition non-fetishistic, and its interpretation is the primordial task of philosophy. Sociology, to account for both rationalisation and rationality, has to operate with both fetishised and defetishised categories
Political Community, Identity and Cosmopolitan Place
Authors: Entrikin J. Nicholas
Published: March 2007

Theoretical discussions of community, identity and democracy rarely make explicit reference to the role of place. When place is discussed it is usually characterized as related to particularistic concerns of local community and is described as a mere setting for human actions. This study explores a more complex, relational concept of place and its potential role in theoretical debate about political community. The example of the European Union is used to illustrate the connection between ideal geographies and conceptions of community. Three competing models of EU political community are discussed: the market, the civic and the cultural pluralist. Each has associated with it a differing spatial logic. This example leads to a consideration of a more cosmopolitan conception of place that moves from the concrete and the particular toward the general and the universal.
Just Before the Fall
Authors: Sciortino Giuseppe
Published: March 2007

The article tries to develop a better understanding of the role of discursive formations in the establishment of a nationalist claim. Nationalist discourses are defined as a distinctive subset of those discursive practices directed to transform, through the drawing of a boundary, a given audience in a solidary community, characterized by an internal, socially constructed similarity and by an external, socially constructed difference. It is argued that such a cultural approach may also help clarify some controversial issues in the sociology of nationalism, such as the meaning of the frequently made distinctions between `ethnic' and `civic' nationalism. It is argued that, while useful in identifying two crucial rhetorical resources, such distinction is troublesome when applied to nationalist actors.

The empirical focus of the article is an analysis of a sample of articles published in the main Italian newspapers about the secessionist campaign of the Northern League in 1996. An analysis of their contents makes it possible to highlight the plurality of discursive strategies employed by social actors in order to advocate or oppose a nationalist claim. It is shown how all the actors involved adopt rhetorical themes belonging both to `ethnic' and `civic' templates.
Chapter 7 Choice and Design of Technologies for Investment Projects
Authors: Kamenetzky Mario
Published: March 2007

This paper suggests a possible answer to the question: how can the local context as well as the long-term goals of a project be fully taken into account when the overall technology for a project is selected?
Self-Esteem and Physical Development in Early Adolescence:
Authors: Williams Joanne M. , Currie Candace
Published: March 2007

Relations between self-esteem, pubertal timing, and body image were investigated with a representative sample of Scottish schoolgirls 11 (n = 1,012, X = 11.53 years, SD = 0.32) and 13 (n = 799, X = 13.53, SD = 0.32) years of age. Data were derived from the Health Behaviour in School Children: WHO Cross-National Survey, specifically the Scottish survey. Among 11-year-olds, early maturation and lower ratings of body image (body size and perceived appearance) were associated with lower reported levels of selfesteem. There also was evidence that body image mediated the relation of pubertal timing on self-esteem for this age group. Among 13-year-olds, reports of body size concerns and poorer perceived appearance were predictive of lower ratings of self-esteem, as was late maturation. In this case, there was no evidence of mediation. Results lend support to the contention that pubertal timing influences body image and self-esteem.
Early Adolescent Girls’ Perceptions of their Relationships with their Fathers:
Authors: Way Niobe , Gillman Deborah A.
Published: March 2007

In response to the lack of research on father/daughter relationships in ethnic minority, low-income families, a qualitative, exploratory study was conducted with 20 early adolescent girls to examine their perceptions of relationships with their fathers. The girls predominantly were Latina or African American and came from low-income, two-parent or single-parent households. They participated in one-to-one, semistructured interviews in which they were asked about their relationships with their fathers. The analysis of the interviews revealed four themes: (a) girls had, or expected to have, activity-oriented relationships with their fathers that involved conversations focused on school, sports, or “the world”; (b) girls wanted “more” from their fathers; (c) girls perceived their fathers as “overprotective”; and (d) girls protected their fathers. With the exception of the fourth theme, each theme was detected in more than three-fourths of the girls’ interviews. The findings indicated a need to examine further the standards by which daughters and fathers evaluate their relationships.
Protective Factors Affecting Low-Income Urban African American Youth Exposed to Stress
Authors: Grant Kathryn E. , O’koon Jeffrey H. , Davis Trina H. , Roache Nicola A. , Poindexter LaShaunda M. , Armstrong Mashana L. , Minden Joel A. , McIntosh Jeanne M.
Published: March 2007

Individual (coping strategies), family (parent/child relationships), and community-based (religious involvement) variables were examined as potential protective factors for 224 low-income urban sixth-through eighth-grade African American adolescents. Each of those variables was examined as a moderator, and analyses were conducted to determine whether the association between stress and psychological symptoms was attenuated for youth endorsing positive coping strategies, strong parent/child relationships, and religious involvement. Results indicated that positive relationships with father figures buffered the effects of stress on externalizing symptoms for boys and for girls; religious involvement was protective for girls but not for boys. The sole coping strategy to demonstrate a protective effect was avoidant coping, which attenuated the relation between stress and externalizing symptoms for boys. Supplemental analyses focusing on specific subsets of stressful experiences indicated that avoidant coping and social support-seeking coping accentuated the relation between daily hassles and internalizing symptoms for girls.
Parents’ Goals for Adolescents Diagnosed with Developmental Delays in Early Childhood
Authors: Clare Lindsay , Garnier Helen
Published: March 2007

Parents’ developmental goals for their children were investigated in a 12-year study of middle-class European American families of children diagnosed with an early developmental delay of unknown etiology. The relation of parents’ developmental goals for children at child age 13 and child characteristics at ages 3, 7, and 11 were examined. Results showed that parents’ developmental goals at adolescence were associated with a range of child characteristics. Early child characteristics also were stronger predictors of parents’ goals at adolescence than parents’ goals for children at earlier ages. These findings indicated that parents adjust their goals over time in response to children’s functioning and abilities. Findings from this study could contribute to early intervention efforts by helping practitioners anticipate parents’ goals for their adolescent children based on children’s functioning at earlier ages.
Young Adolescents’ Perceptions of Parental Management of Peer Relationships
Authors: Mounts Nina S.
Published: March 2007

In two short-term longitudinal studies, the relation of direct parental management of peer relationships with young adolescents’ and their best friends’ antisocial behavior and academic achievement were examined. Ninth-graders reported perceptions of parental monitoring and parental prohibiting of peer relationships. Ninth-graders and best friends reported drug use, delinquent behavior, grade point average (GPA), and educational expectations. At Time 1, adolescents who reported higher levels of parental monitoring reported lower levels of drug use, lower levels of delinquent behavior, higher GPAs, and higher educational expectations. At Time 1, perceptions of moderate levels of prohibiting were associated with lower levels of drug use and delinquent behavior for adolescents and their peers. Adolescents who reported moderate levels of prohibiting reported higher levels of Time 3 academic achievement.
Possible Selves and Negative Health Behaviors During Early Adolescence
Authors: Aloise-Young Patricia A. , Hennigan Karen M. , Leong Cynthia W.
Published: March 2007

The relation of the possible selves to cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption was the focus for this study. Participants (1,606 students in Grades 6 through 9) listed their possible selves and reported their cigarette and alcohol use. The results revealed that adolescent cigarette smoking and alcohol use were related negatively to (a) the number of positive expected selves and (b) the balance between expected selves and feared selves. However, when both possible-selves variables were entered in the model simultaneously, only the number of positive expected selves consistently was related to negative health behavior. In addition, the number of positive expected selves was related more strongly to the negative health behavior of eighth and ninth graders than to that of sixth and seventh graders. The findings from the present study are contrasted with previous research. In addition, the utility of an intervention involving the possible selves is discussed.
Stability and Change in Peer Relationships During the Transition to Middle-Level School
Authors: Hardy Cindy L. , Bukowski William M. , Sippola Lorrie K.
Published: March 2007

In this short-term longitudinal study, Canadian young adolescents’ peer relationships were assessed as students moved from Grade 6 in small elementary schools to Grade 7 in a middle-level school offering Grades 7 through 12. Sociometric nominations were conducted in May of Grade 6, monthly during the fall term, and in May of Grade 7. Peer rejection was stable; peer acceptance was less stable during the transition than subsequently. Girls experienced greater instability in reciprocated friendships than did boys, although girls and boys had similar numbers of reciprocated friendships overall. During the fall term of Grade 7, students lost old reciprocated friendships and formed new reciprocated friendships with previously unfamiliar peers. Girls were more likely than boys to nominate previously unfamiliar peers as friends. Girls from the large elementary school, as compared with other girls, established reciprocated friendships with peers who were unfamiliar from elementary school earlier in the fall term.
Generality of Proportional Reasoning in Early Adolescence: Content Effects and Individual Differences
Authors: Pulos Steven , Karplus Robert , Stage Elizabeth K.
Published: March 2007

Two hundred forty eight adolescents from grades 6 and 8 were given a proportional reasoning task and a battery of eight cognitive style, ability, and attitude measures. The problems in the proportional reasoning task varied in referential content and numerical structure. The cognitive ability and style dimensions examined consisted of: Crystallized intelligence, fluid intelligence, field dependency, divergent thinking, visualization ability, and M capacity. An age x sex x content x structure ANOVA found a significant main effect only for numerical structure. A significant age x sex x content interaction was also found. A simultaneous model multiple regression found a significant effect for only fluid ability, M capacity, and divergent thinking when the other variables were held constant.
First Date
Authors: Spreadbury Connie Lizotte
Published: March 2007

Studies indicate that most people begin dating around the ages of 13 to 15, but not much else is known about this important rite of passage that adolescents go through. This article reports on research designed to study the first date. The questionnaire, administered to 128 college students, asked them to respond to 15 questions about their first date when they were teenagers. The findings indicated that: (1) males asked the females out; (2) most individuals had a second date with that same person; (3) most were likely to attend a movie, go out to dinner, to a dance, or just ride around on their first date; (4) teenagers kiss and hold hands on their first date, but rarely go any further; (5) females were most often happy or scared on their first date, whereas males were either happy or awkward; and (6) parents usually approved of their off-springs' dating.
The Relation between Identity Status and Locus of Control among Rural High School Students
Authors: Abraham Kitty G.
Published: March 2007

This study investigated the relationship between locus of control and identity status in a sample of high school students, and provided a test of procedural rules of the Obejctive Measure of Ego Identity Status for classifying "low profile" subjects. Subjects were 223 9th-12th graders attending high school in a rural area of a southwestern state. Locus of control scores, measured by the Children's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale were used as response variables against identity status in a one-way analysis of variance. Results confirmed that identity achievement individuals were significantly less external in locus of control than individuals in all other identity statuses. Individuals in the moratorium Rule 2 status were significantly less external in locus of control than individuals in the moratorium Rule 1 status. Discussion focused on implications for these results as they relate to identity development in the high school years.
A Cognitive-Developmental Perspective on the Adolescent Self-Concept
Authors: Noppe Illene C.
Published: March 2007

The study of self-concept development within a cognitive-developmental framework has received increased attention in the recent self-concept literature. However, the effects of the transition from concrete to formal operations in adolescent self-concepts, the distinction between self-concept and self-esteen during adolescence, and the differentiation of age from cognitive-developmental level as independent variables have not been systematically explored. The present study considered these issues in an investigation of the cognitive-developmental basis of the self-concept during childhood, early and middle adolescence. Eight-, 12-, and 16-year-old-males and females were given the Twenty Statements Test (TST), the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory, and Piagetian measures of concrete and formal reasoning. Across all age groups, no significant effects due to cognitive-developmental level were found on the TST protocols. However, the variables of age and sex were significant for physical, concrete, introspective and abstract dimensions of the self-concept for adolescent subjects. Self-esteem was significantly related to several dimensions of the self-concept. The results suggest that there are significant age-related differences in self-conception between the early and middle adolescent years.
Origins of Cigarette Smoking in Academic Achievement, Stress and Social Expectations: Does Gender Make a Difference?
Authors: Brunswick Ann F. , Messeri Peter A.
Published: March 2007

This research is based on a panel study of urban black adolescents (N = 536) with six to eight years intervening between measuring the predictors and measuring subsequent smoking initiation. Prior research with white and largely school-drawn samples has demonstrated that poor school achievement has a significant influence on smoking initiation. The same relationship held in this black youth sample, with a stronger effect noted for females than for males. Two major competing explanations of this relationship then were tested: (1) psychogenic, which postulated smoking as a means of coping with school related stress and; (2) differential socialization, which postulated smoking as an outcome of adherence to divergent social norms. Separate prediction models were tested for males and females. Psychogenic variables (worry about school performance) significantly increased females' smoking risk, but not males'. Social expectancy (perceptions of one's chances in the opportunity structure), an indicator of differential socialization, added significantly to males' risk of smoking initiation, but not females'. Neither significantly reduced the poor academic achievement-smoking link.
Coping Strategies of Families of Seriously Ill Adolescents
Authors: Powers Sally I. , Dill Diana , Hauser Stuart T. , Noam Gil G. , Jacobson Alan M.
Published: March 2007

This paper compares the coping strategies of two groups of families coping with unusual stresses: families of diabetic adolescents and families of adolescents who were psychiatrically hospitalized in early adolescence. The coping strategies of these two groups of families are also compared to the coping strategies of a group of families of non-patient adolescents. Analyses indicate that families of ill adolescents find a greater variety of coping strategies helpful than families of non-patient adolescents, in particular relying more heavily on community resources. The coping of the families of adolescents with a history of psychiatric illness was characterized by greater family passivity and less confidence in family problem-solving ability. The coping of families with diabetic adolescents was characterized by greater reliance on active internal and external means of responding to stress, such as reframing family problems, using church and religious resources, and seeking support from extended family. Implications of these results are discussed in the context of the particular stresses with which these special families cope.
The Relationship of Proportional Reasoning Ability to Self-Concept: A Cognitive Developmental Approach
Authors: Denny B. Michael , Thomas Susan
Published: March 2007

The relationship between proportional reasoning ability and self concept was studied from a cognitive developmental approach. A sample of 222 adolescents attending public middle or senior high school in a rural southern state were assigned to two problem solving groups, ineffective and effective, based on their performance on three sets of proportional reasoning tasks. The two groups had comparable Cognitive (intellectual) Skills Index scores. Data were also collected on self concept using the My Characteristic Self scale, instrumentality and expressiveness (Self Perception Inventory); and masculinity (Adolescent Sex Role Inventory). The Hotellings multivariate test of significance revealed statistical significance (at = .05) between the two problem solving groups. The investigation of the univariate F-tests indicated that self concept was a statistically significant (cx = .05) dependent variable. The relationship between age and self concept was nonsignificant (r = .19). The results were discussed in relation to similar findings in elementary school and early adolescent age youth.
Social Interactions of Adolescent Girls During Sports Activity: Age and Sex Role Influences
Authors: Savin-Williams Ritch C. , Bolger Niall , Spinola Susan M.
Published: March 2007

Few researchers have observed the social interactions of adolescent girls during sports activity. In this study we ascertained whether the nature of this interpersonal behavior varied between early and middle adolescence. Are middle adolescent girls less involved in sports activities than early adolescents, as theories of gender role socialization would lead us to expect? Furthermore, we sought to explain age effects in terms of differences in measured sex-role orientation. Twenty-one adolescent girls in 6th, 8th, and 10th grade PE classes were observed during mandatory volleyball games. Recorded behaviors were encouragement, assistance, negative expression, distraction, and avoidance. The girls also completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory. The age hypothesis was confirmed: 6th grade girls were most likely to encourage teammates and were least likely to engage in distracting behavior. Sex-role orientation did not explain the age difference in the behaviors in an overall sense, that is, when the five behaviors were considered simultaneously. When considered individually, however, the age difference in distracting behavior can be explained in part by group differences in sex-role orientation. The results contribute to a growing documentation of adolescent behavior in naturalistic settings.
Gender Differences in Attributions for Success and Failure
Authors: Ryckman David B. , Peckham Percy D.
Published: March 2007

The study examined gender differences in attributions for success and failure in math/science and language arts. Developmental patterns were also examined through a cross sectional design of 731 boys and 680 girls in grades four through eleven. Girls were found to have fewer adaptive attributional patterns in math/science than in language arts. While boys had more adaptive patterns in math/science than had girls, they also had more adaptive patterns for language arts patterns than for math/science. It was concluded that cross content area research should consider the student's relative perceived task difficulty.
Changes in Sex Differences in Scottish Examination Results since 1976
Authors: Willms J. Douglas , Kerr Peter D.
Published: March 2007

This study describes trends in the size and distribution of sex differences between Scottish secondary pupils in their national certificate examination results between 1976 and 1984. It also examines the relationship between sex differences and social class, and between sex differences and geographical location. We employ data from the Scottish School Leavers Surveys which describe three nationally representative samples of pupils who left school in 1976, 1980, and 1984. The findings show that ten years ago there was no sex difference in overall examination attainment, but by 1984 there was a considerable female advantage. The female advantage in English increased between 1976 and 1984, and the gap in arithmetic, which previously favored males, no longer remained in 1984. The findings also show that social-class inequality far outweighs sex inequality: differences between pupils in the top and bottom social-class categories in their mean levels of performance were about 1.25 to 1.5 standard deviations, compared with sex differences, which at most were about .25 of a standard deviation. The performance of working-class pupils relative to middle-class pupils improved over the eight-year period; however, the study did not lend support to theories that hypothesize sex differences are larger for either high or low social-class pupils. The study suggests that differences in the local opportunity structure may be a determining factor of sex inequality: in rural areas the attainment and achievement scores of males were considerably below the national average. Rural females, who had worse employment prospects at the end of fourth year, remained at school longer, had better examination results, and had higher rates of entry into post-secondary institutions than their male peers.
Street Children of Colombia
Authors: Aptekar Lewis
Published: March 2007

The characteristics of street children were examined from participant observational data, and from standardized psychological test scores from a sample of 56 male, Colombian street children who ranged in age from 7-16. The Kohs Block Design measured the children's intelligence, the Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test and the Bender Gestalt were used to measure the children's emotional and neurological functioning. The data showed the children were functioning with adequate mental health. Two different preadolescent styles of street life were presented and their peer groups were explained. The present study illustrated how street life altered the children's developmental sequence, but provided them with adequate coping skills. The study demonstrated how child development was changed by personal and cultural circumstances.
Value Socialization and Peer Group Affiliation among Early Adolescents
Authors: Whitbeck Les B. , Simons Ronald L. , Conger Rand D. , Lorenz Fred O.
Published: March 2007

This study examined parental influence on the values of early adolescents and the influence of adolescents' values on their choice of friends. The degree to which early adolescents identified with their parents and the parents' endorsement of two measures of conventional values were found to predict adolescents' endorsement of conventional values. In turn, adolescents who endorsed values oriented toward altruism were less likely to report association with friends who had been involved in deviant behavior. Endorsing values oriented toward success and affluence did not reduce adolescents' reports of friendships with peers who had been involved in deviant activities. The results suggest the importance of considering types of values when investigating value influence on adolescent behavior. They also suggest that values indirectly affect adolescent behavior by influencing peer group affiliation.
Self-Image and Educational Plans of Adolescents from Two Contrasting Communities
Authors: Sarigiani Pamela A. , Wilson Janis Lee , Petersen Anne C. , Vicary Judith R.
Published: March 2007

This study examined self-image and educational plans in adolescents from two communities differing in geographic location (rural vs. suburban), socioeconomic status, educational attainment of adults, and unemployment level, differences hypothesized to affect their educational plans and self-image. Young adolescents in the eighth grade were sampled as part of two larger longitudinal studies (rural, n = 234; suburban, n = 253). Each adolescent reported educational plans and completed three scales from the Self-Image Questionnaire for Young Adolescents (SIQYA). The links of self-image and educational plans to parental educational attainment also were considered. Adolescent educational plans and self-image were consistently and significantly lower in the rural community. Within the rural sample, young adolescents with lower aspirations also had lower self-image. Self-image and educational plans were related to parental educational attainment primarily in the rural sample. These results suggested that community context may influence the nature of adolescent development.
Gender, Body Image, and Self-Concept in Early Adolescence
Authors: Koff Elissa , Rierdan Jill , Stubbs Margaret L.
Published: March 2007

Structure and valuation of body image and the relationship between body image and self-concept were examined in 169 ninth-grade males and females. Three specific hypotheses were tested: (a) that females would have more differentiated body images than males; (b) that males would value their bodies more than females; and (c) that the degree of relationship between valuation of body image and self-concept would be stronger for females than for males. Two measures of body image, body satisfaction and body experience, and two measures of self-concept, self-esteem and self-awareness, were employed. As predicted, females had more diffierentiated, and males more global, body images, and males were more positive about their bodies than were females. Contrary to expectations, no significant gender differences were found for any of the correlations between body image and self-concept, although all correlations for males were higher than were those for females.
Nutritional Issues of Adolescents
Authors: Carruth Betty Ruth , Goldberg Dena L.
Published: March 2007

Many adolescent athletes are potentially at risk for inadequate nutritional intake and abnormal eating patterns because of their desire to manipulate body weight for enhancing performance and their vulnerability to food fads and fallacies. Based on reported studies, adolescent athletes, especially females, consume inadequate diets, score low on nutrition knowledge tests, and/or hold misperceptions about general nutrition, especially practices recommended for adolescent athletes. Nonathletic female adolescents who are very preoccupied with body size and shape are also at risk for developing disordered eating patterns. This article presents methods used by female adolescents to attain society's ideal thin female physique and discusses the potential risks to normal growth and development. Ways are suggested that professionals working with adolescents may use to hopefully reduce the risk factors of inadequate nutrition and the development of disordered eating patterns.
Stress among Early Adolescents in Two-Earner Families
Authors: Bird Gloria W. , Kemerait Linda N.
Published: March 2007

This study investigated the emotional stress reported by early adolescents in two-earner families in family, peer, and student roles. Data were collected from 173 eighth-grade adolescents (79 males and 94 females) and their two-earner parents. Role strain, coping strategies, psychological resources, and parental work characteristics were examined as determinants of adolescent emotional stress. Gender also was included in the analyses as a control variable. Overall, the adolescents sampled reported low to moderate levels of emotional stress across roles. Role strain was found to be a key factor in explaining early adolescent stress levels. Results were less supportive of the influence of psychological resources and gender as moderators of stress. Coping strategies were found to be especially important in explaining stress outcomes as an adolescent family member. Parental work characteristics did not explain any of the variance in emotional stress in family, peer, or student roles. Implications of these findings are discussed.
The Relationship between Parenting Styles, Sons' Self-Restraint, and Peer Relations in Early Adolescence
Authors: Feldman S. Shirley , Wentzel Kathryn R.
Published: March 2007

Self-restraint was studied as a social competency that may partly explain the link between parenting techniques and early adolescent boys' relationships with peers. Information on parenting styles and family social support was obtained from 92 mothers, 67 fathers, and 92 sixth-grade boys. Classroom teachers rated boys' self-restraint and classmates nominated boys they liked most and liked least. Correlations and regression analyses linked sons' self-restraint to both parenting and peer relations. Parenting and social support from families also contributed unique variance to sons `peer relations, over and above their contribution to sons' self-restraint. Specifically, parental child-centeredness was a significant, positive predictor of being liked by peers, whereas parental harsh discipline was a significant, positive predictor of social impact on peers. In contrast to other work in this area, these findings were obtained using separate informants to assess mothers' and fathers' child-rearing styles, boys' self-restraint, and peer relations.
Gender Differences in the Expression of Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescents
Authors: Campbell T. Leanne , Byrne Barbara M. , Baron Pierre
Published: March 2007

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether gender differences in the expression of depressive symptoms could be identified on the basis of responses to the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale (RADS) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Participants were 207 French-Canadian high school students (83 males, 124 females) from a large metropolitan area of Central Canada. Unlike previous studies with depressed samples, discriminant function analyses of data obtained from nonclinical subjects in the present study revealed lower mean scores for males than females on all interpretable RADS and BDI items. The discrepancy between these and other findings is discussed in the context of the sex role socialization theory. It is argued that females in general may be more likely to report a variety of depressive symptoms, but when overall depression scores are high, both males and females present symptoms congruent with their respective socially prescribed gender roles.
Individual-Contextual Relationships and Mathematics Performance
Authors: Jovanovic Jasna , Lerner Richard M.
Published: March 2007

This study examined whether the system of relationships between individual-psychological characteristics (i.e., spatial ability, scholastic ability perception, mathematics stereotype), social contextual levels of family and culture, and mathematics performance differs for young adolescent girls and boys. Subjects included 160 American (i.e., from the United States) sixth graders and 242 Serbian fifth and sixth graders. Findings indicated that in both cultures scholastic ability perception was associated with the mathematics performance of boys and girls. In addition, both among American and Serbian boys and among Serbian girls, spatial ability was linked to their mathematics performance. Interestingly, among American girls but not among Serbian girls, holding a less traditional mathematics stereotype related negatively to mathematics performance. Finally, the family appeared to be a particularly salient context for Serbian young adolescents, especially for girls. These findings underscore the notion that at different levels of the social context young adolescents' individual-psychological characteristics can vary, leading to different academic outcomes.
Mother/Daughter Agreement on the Eating Attitudes Test and the Eating Disorder Inventory
Authors: Pendley Jennifer Shroff , Bates John E.
Published: March 2007

Adolescent self-reports on the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) and the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) are used widely to assess eating disorder symptoms. However, no published study has examined agreement between the youth and another source on these measures. This study assessed mother/daughter agreement on the EAT-26 and EDI. Subjects included 319 middle school girls and their mothers. The median correlation between mother and daughter report on the EAT and EDI scales was .22, with a range of .04 to .49. Mother/daughter agreement was highest on body dissatisfaction. Bulimia scales showed near-zero mother/daughter convergence. Maternal reports of their daughters `eating disorder symptoms were significantly lower than daughter self-report means on all but one subscale, the EAT-26 bulimia subscale. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that subscale structures did not generalize well to mother reports of their daughters' eating disorders.
Pubertal Development, Parental Communication, and Sexual Values in Relation to Adolescent Sexual Behaviors
Authors: Miller Brent C. , Norton Maria C. , Fan Xitao , Christopherson Cynthia R.
Published: March 2007

There is great interest in understanding adolescent sexual behavior because of its links to unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. This study's purpose was to analyze biological and social antecedents of adolescent sexual intentions and behaviors, including age, pubertal development, quality of parent/adolescent communication, and adolescent sexual values. Analyses were based on longitudinal data collected in 1991, 1992, and 1993 from 473 families. Structural equation modeling was used to test direct and indirect effects among the time-ordered variables separately by gender Both for males and females, parent/adolescent communication quality was related positively to adolescent sexual abstinence values, abstinence values had a strong negative effect on sexual intentions, and sexual intentions had a significant positive effect on sexual behaviors. Parent/adolescent communication quality was related directly to sexual intentions measured 1 year later among females only. Early pubertal development, relative to same-age peers, was related directly to sexual behaviors of both genders.
Victimization by Community Violence in Young Adolescents from a Suburban City
Authors: Kuther Tara L. , Fisher Celia B.
Published: March 2007

An exploratory model of the victimization-distress relation was tested with a sample of 123 sixth- through eighth-grade students from a small suburban city. More than one-half of the participants reported being victimized by community violence (including being chased, hit, mugged, and wounded). Although the majority of victimization incidents described by students included less severe types of physical confrontations such as chasing or hitting, nearly one-fifth of the students experienced more severe forms of victimization, namely mugging or wounding. An exploratory model was constructed whereby assertiveness and self-controlling coping predicted victimization. Victimization and family support emerged as direct predictors of distress, and family support moderated the victimization-distress relation. Suggestions for further research are discussed.
Ethnic Identity as a Predictor of Attitudes of Adolescents Toward Fighting
Authors: Arbona Consuelo , Jackson Russell H. , McCoy Ann , Blakely Craig
Published: March 2007

The purpose for this study was to examine to what extent ethnic identity would predict attitudes toward fighting among African American and Latino and Latina early adolescents (n = 330) in the presence of two factors, parental involvement and negative peer behaviors, which have emerged consistently as predictors of violent and antisocial behaviors among adolescents. Results indicated that for the African American participants, ethnic identity accounted for variation in their nonfighting attitudes beyond that accounted for by parental control and negative peer behaviors. Ethnic identity did not emerge as a predictor of attitudes toward fighting for the Latino and Latina adolescents. Girls from both ethnic groups reported higher endorsement of profighting attitudes than did boys. However, gender did not emerge as a statistically significant predictor of fighting attitudes in the presence of the other three predictor variables: ethnic identity, parental involvement, and negative peer behaviors.
The Development and Management of a Department of Marketing Advisory Council
Authors: Andrus David M. , Martin Dawne
Published: March 2007

Colleges of business administration are under continuing pressure to make their curriculum and faculty research more relevant to the business community. At the same time, resources are either declining or not keeping pace with growing enrollment at many institutions. This article addresses the formation and governance of a department of marketing advisory council based on the experiences of a marketing department at a large midwestern public university. An innovative approach for building trust and commitment with advisory council members, while increasing a department’s human, intellectual, and financial resources, is outlined using relationship-marketing principles as a foundation. Examples of bylaws, activities, annual meetings, and methods of ongoing communication to ensure the success of a departmental advisory council are provided. Finally, some caveats and pitfalls associated with developing and managing an advisory council are discussed.