School Socioeconomic Contexts and Adolescent Self-Descriptions in India

Many Western developmental theorists (e.g., Baumeister, 1986; Erikson, 1968) propose an increasingly autonomous self-construal during adolescence (e.g., Erikson, 1968). In this study self-construal among 191 older children and young adolescents (ages 9 through 16) from private and public schools in Madras, India, was assessed by means of the self attitudes instrument (Kuhn and McPartland, 1954) and the scoring system of Trafimow et al. (1991). Individuality in self-construal did not increase with age across all groups but was mediated by socioeconomic strata (SES, as indexed by school) and gender. Boys from high SES schools best conformed to the Western conceptualization of self-concept development. Boys from lower SES schools exhibited opposite patterns with higher group responses in the older age group. The findings highlight the importance of social context in individual development.     

Effects of Ethnic Classification on Substantive Findings in Adolescent Mental Health Outcomes

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Although most adolescents are healthy, epidemiological studies show that a significant number experience mental health challenges, and that Indigenous and ethnic...     

Boys will be boys: Teaching women's studies in mixed-sex groups

There are strong arguments for teaching Women's Studies to teachers of both sexes in order that they might effect changes in schools concerning the validity of female experience. Some of the difficulties in teaching mixed-sex groups of student teachers are described through two short case studies of male disruption. These seem to point to the desirability of working in single-sex groups. Ironically this conclusion is often most quickly reached by women through the experience of being in the mixed-sex group.     

Adoption as a strategy on a Chuukese atoll

A new look at adoption is made possible with the use of software capable of computing social organization by examining residence, group membership, marriage, and the ownership and transmission of property using the scaffold of kinship. The Chuukese data set collected by the Goodenoughs and Fischer, and later compiled by Hyde, permits the study of residence as a means of clarifying population and resource flows, sheds new light on the data themselves, and offers new insight concerning the Fischer-Goodenough residence debate.     

The Role of Religiosity in the Relationship Between Parents,Peers, and Adolescent Risky Sexual Behavior

Research has documented a negative relationship between religion and risky sexual behavior. Few studies, however, have examined the processes whereby religion exerts this effect. The present study develops and tests a model of various mechanisms whereby parental religiosity reduces the likelihood of adolescents’ participation in risky sexual behavior (early sexual debut, multiple sexual partners, and inconsistent condom use). Structural equation modeling, using longitudinal data from a sample of 612 African American adolescents (55% female), provided support for the model. The results indicated that parental religiosity influenced adolescent risky sexual behavior through its impact on authoritative parenting, adolescent religiosity, and adolescent affiliation with less sexually permissive peers. Some mediating mechanisms differed by the gender of the respondent, suggesting a “double-standard” for daughters but not for sons. Findings also indicated the importance of messages about sexual behavior that are transmitted to adolescents by their peers. Theoretical and policy implications of the findings are discussed.