Youth & Society current issue

If You Build It, Will They Come?: Estimating Unmet Demand for After-School Programs in America's Distressed Cities

Weitzman, B. C., Mijanovich, T., Silver, D., Brazill, C. — 2008-08-13

Telephone-survey data were gathered from parents and youth in five of America's largest and most distressed cities to estimate unmet demand for after-school programs. Unmet demand was conceptualized as a function of low utilization and dissatisfaction with one's current arrangement; furthermore, the authors argue that dissatisfaction must stem from something that can be addressed through changes in policy or programs. Large numbers of parents of children who infrequently use after-school programs were found to indicate that they would increase utilization if there were improvements in the quality, access, or types of programming. However, large numbers of parents whose children do not participate or participate infrequently in after-school programs were also found to express satisfaction with their arrangement and indicated that they do not wish to change it. Expanding services with the assumption that children from these families will participate may be misguided.

School Bullying Among Hong Kong Chinese Primary Schoolchildren

Wong, D. S. W., Lok, D. P. P., Wing Lo, T., Ma, S. K. — 2008-08-13

The first comprehensive survey of 7,025 Chinese primary schoolchildren found that 24% of respondents reported that they had sometimes physically bullied another child. When children observed school bullying, 56% said they immediately reported it to their teachers. Another 20% tried to stop the bullying by approaching the bullies. The study also identified factors associated with bullying. These included coming from an adverse psychosocial background and having more contact with violent values through association with deviant peers and exposure to the mass media. On the basis of the research findings, potential methods of bullying intervention are discussed.

Self-Reported Delinquency of High School Students in Metro Manila: Gender and Social Class

Gutierrez, F. C., Shoemaker, D. J. — 2008-08-13

Self-report data were gathered from 633 students from public and private schools in metro Manila, Philippines. The study finds overall delinquency prevalence to be higher among males than females but not significantly different from one socioeconomic class to another. Gender and class differentials, however, are found for different types of delinquency (overt property, covert property, theft, swindling, vandalism, drug abuse, alcohol and cigarettes, and status offenses). Violent offenses and more public forms of delinquency are found to be high among lower-class boys, whereas covert types of delinquency are high among the middle- and upper-class students. Of interest, among females, upper-class girls consistently have the highest self-reported delinquency rates.

Mother-Adolescent Communication About Tobacco Use in Urban Puerto Rican and Dominican Families

Guilamo-Ramos, V., Bouris, A. M., Dittus, P., Jaccard, J. — 2008-08-13

Research on parent-adolescent communication about cigarette smoking in Latino families remains relatively scarce. This dearth of information is worrisome given the high rates of tobacco use among Latino adolescents and the large burden borne by adult Latinos in smoking-related morbidity and mortality. This study presents qualitative data on parent-adolescent communication about cigarette smoking in a sample of urban Latino families. The authors conducted 12 focus groups with 40 Puerto Rican and Dominican mother-adolescent dyads (N = 80) residing in the Bronx community of New York. The findings indicate that the mothers were comfortable discussing smoking-related issues with their children. Adolescents expressed a desire to discuss tobacco-related issues with their mothers, although some feared parental punishment. The results highlight a gap in parental knowledge and efficacy regarding social influences to smoke. Results are discussed in the context of developing focused interventions aimed at reducing cigarette smoking among Latino youth.

Gay-Straight Alliances in High Schools: Social Predictors of Early Adoption

Fetner, T., Kush, K. — 2008-08-13

This article examines the patterns of emergence of gay-straight alliances (GSAs) in public high schools in the United States. These extracurricular student groups offer safe spaces, social support, and opportunities for activism to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and straight students. Combining data on various characteristics of public schools and state anti-discrimination laws with organizational records on the formation of GSA groups, the authors consider the conditions under which these groups are likely to form, as well as the social barriers to their formation. Using logistic regression and linear regression analysis, a number of characteristics common among those schools are isolated that founded the first wave of GSAs. The location of schools, the number of students, region of the country, and support groups outside high schools are among those social forces that promoted the early adoption of GSAs in public schools.

Gender Differences in Adolescent Risk Taking: Are They Diminishing?: An Australian Intergenerational Study

Abbott-Chapman, J., Denholm, C., Wyld, C. — 2008-08-13

Research investigating patterns of intergenerational risk taking has produced evidence of increased risk taking of female adolescents compared with their mother's generation and a reduction in the traditional gap between levels of teenage male and female risk taking. The research is part of a larger, multistage project on factors affecting adolescent risk taking conducted between 1999 and 2003 in Tasmania, Australia, using quantitative and qualitative research methods. Findings from the study of 954 "mainstream" students in Years 11 and 12 in public and private senior secondary schools and colleges and 1,139 parents of Year 11 and 12 students in the same schools and colleges suggest that gender differences in risk taking and risk perceptions have narrowed significantly over recent decades. Although the pattern of risk activities is complex, it appears that high levels of consumption of alcohol and binge drinking are what especially distinguish the behavior of teenage girls from their mothers' generation.