This investigation describes what smoking means to adolescents, and attempts to better understand it as a rite of passage. Applying a social ontology to an often-individualized issue, interviews were conducted with 20 adolescent smokers between the ages of 13 and 19. Results show that adolescents possess detailed information about the risks of…

In 1999 Stephen Gorard published an article in this journal in which he provided a trenchant critique of what he termed the "politician's error" in analyzing differences in educational attainment. The main consequence of this error, his argument, has been the production of misleading findings in relation to trends in educational performance over…

This study examined the measurement and latent construct invariance of the Academic Motivation Scale (Vallerand, Blais, Brier, & Pelletier, 1989; Vallerand et al., 1992, 1993) across both gender and time. An integrative analytical strategy was used to assess in one set of nested models both longitudinal and cross-gender invariance, and…

Ethnographic research, including interviews, focus groups, and observations were conducted to explore gendered dimensions of smoking among low level smokers, including the acceptability of smoking in different contexts; reasons for smoking; the monitoring of self and friends' smoking; and shared smoking as a means of communicating concern and…

The authors used meta-analytical techniques to estimate the magnitude of gender differences in mean level and variability of 35 dimensions and 3 factors of temperament in children ages 3 months to 13 years. Effortful control showed a large difference favoring girls and the dimensions within that factor (e.g., inhibitory control: d = -0.41,…

This study examines the ways that widowhood affects older adults' perceived exchange of support with their children, and whether exchange patterns differ by gender. Data are from the Changing Lives of Older Couples (CLOC), a prospective study of 1,532 married individuals age 65 years and older. Spousal loss increases older adults' dependence on…

A serious imbalance exists in today's African American undergraduate student population in which the number of women far outnumber the number of men. Although at the macro level, political, sociological, and economic forces frame this gender enrollment gap, scant research has explored microlevel influences such as parents and parenting. This study…

Studies show that women make up only 35% of the IT workforce, and the schism between boys' and girls' interests in math and science is well documented. Richard Van Eck suggests that providing girls with more positive experiences with technology may impact their overall attitudes toward technology and perhaps even toward math and science. Van Eck…

Demographic, psychological and secondary level examination measures were obtained at the start of undergraduate courses in an attempt to predict first-year higher education (HE) withdrawal. As usual, withdrawal was greatest for males. Overall, intrinsic motivation and independent study expectations were better predictors of withdrawal than…

Beliefs about the consequences of using alcohol, alcohol expectancies, are powerful predictors of underage drinking. The Alcohol Expectancies Questionnaire-Adolescent form (AEQ-A) has been widely used to measure expectancies in youth. Despite its broad use, the factor structure of the AEQ-A has not been firmly established. It is also not known…

Accurate descriptions of sex differences in the development of childhood conduct problems and adolescent delinquency will inform theories of their causes in fundamentally important ways. Using data on 4,572 offspring of a national sample of women, we tested descriptive hypotheses regarding sex differences. As predicted, the magnitude of sex…

The internal structure of the revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R, German version; M. F. Scheier, C. S. Carver, & M. W. Bridges, 1994) was analyzed in a sample of 46,133 participants who ranged in age from 18 years to 103 years. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that dispositional optimism, as measured by the LOT-R, is bidimensional, …

This study investigated the effects of a dependent group-oriented contingency on the supportive and non-supportive fair play behaviors of 6th grade students engaged in volleyball games as part of their physical education instruction. Six students, one male and one female per class, from three classes, identified as demonstrating low incidences of…

A content analysis of 25 award-winning Australian picture books was conducted to examine whether the incidence of sex-role stereotyping had decreased in Australian picture books since the mid 1970s. Comparing a sample of books from the mid 1970s to a sample from the 2000s, three potential areas of stereotyping were assessed: ratios of male to…

The authors explored death obsession level and correlates among a sample (N=601) of Palestinians living in the city of Beit Jala, the village of Al-Khader, and the Aida refugee camp in the Bethlehem area. They live in war conditions; the houses of half of them have been demolished. The Death Obsession Scale (DOS) was administered. Its alpha…