Underage drinking is among the most serious of public health problems facing adolescents in the United States. Recent concerns have centered on young women, reflected in media reports and arrest statistics on their increasing problematic alcohol use. This study rigorously examined whether girls' alcohol use rose by applying time series methods to…

In this article, the author describes how her eleventh- and twelfth-grade portfolio class used art as a social concern through a sketchbook and a linoleum print. Students thumbed through copies of the "New York Times" to find an article that described a modern-day social concern. Students were assigned to choose an article, summarize it, and come…

This article reports on a two year project in which educational psychologists offered consultation to groups of teachers, to help them find solutions to school-based problems. Teachers were drawn from within individual schools and from across a number of schools. Typically, teachers were trained by educational psychologists in group consultation…

Using data from the Wabash National Study, authors examine how students' perceptions of campus climate influence growth in students' social and political activism. The goal of this article is to determine to what extent, if any, students' perceptions of the campus environment affect their orientation toward social/political activism over 4 years…

The national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) monitors priority health risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death, disability, and social problems among youth and adults in the United States. The national YRBS is conducted every two years during the spring semester and provides data representative of 9th through 12th grade…

The American Indian population is a young one; the median age is 28.0, with 34% under 18 years old. In contrast, the median age for the overall U.S. population is 35.3, with 26% younger than 18 (Hawkins, Cummins, & Marlatt, 2004). It is difficult to avoid resorting to statistical hyperbole when describing the problems facing American Indian and…

Russian science is in need of serious reforms if it is to provide the research and development needed for economic health. Issues of increasing average age of scientific personnel, poor working conditions, low salaries, and relatively low social prestige need to be addressed. This article reviews a questionnaire survey conducted in 2008 that aimed…

U.S. schools are becoming increasingly religiously diverse, but students rarely learn about different religious beliefs and how those beliefs--or nonbelief--might shape people's responses to important issues. Face to Faith is a free program that uses videoconferencing to connect students with peers from around the world to discuss issues related…

Community-based research (CBR) is an increasingly familiar approach to addressing social challenges. Nonetheless, the role it plays in attaining community impact is unclear and largely unstudied. Here the authors discuss an emerging framework aimed toward fostering community impact through university and community civic engagement. They describe…

Bullying behaviours remain common in schools despite an abundance of policies and programs aimed at curbing them. In this paper, the author argues that such policies and programs are problematic not because they are flawed in themselves, but because they draw from the dominant and usual ideas about what bullying is taken to be. These ideas are…

The benefits of community-based research (CBR) in the sociology classroom go beyond those associated with traditional service learning. Here, students use their sociological skills to examine and propose solutions to local social problems addressed by community organizations. Through analyzing students' course reflection journals and the results…

The concept of risk has found increasing prominence in social policy, human services management and front-line practice in recent years. This is particularly the case in relation to children and young people, who, in the UK, have been subject to a range of interventions based on the identification of population-based risk factors. Through the…

This study examined parents' perceptions of child sexual abuse as well as prevention practices in an urban community in southwest Nigeria. Questionnaires were collected from 387 parents and caregivers of children younger than 15 years of age. Results showed that many parents felt CSA was a common problem in the community, and most parents…

Are students being prepared for the challenges they will face in a globalising world? We investigated whether middle school students were interested in global issues, had knowledge of global issues and possessed the skills needed for competence as a citizen in a globalising world in the context of participating in a five-week, web-based…

The number of people in need of care, support and assistance from afflictions (natural and artificial) keeps expanding by the day. From a simple traditional based dislocation to a sophisticated "man induced" social problems of wars, refugees, drug addiction, homosexuality, HIV/AIDS pandemics etc, the society today (either developed or…