Although the status of Putonghua is perceived to be on the rise progressively in post-colonial Hong Kong, the tremendous social prestige enjoyed by English language is still dominating this city, which resulted in educationalists’ attention on students’ achievements in English language, especially after female students were found to out-compete their male counterparts in English studies for years. In order to yield more reference for educationalists concerning this phenomenon, a newly developed approach, namely the Motivational Self System Model (Dörnyei, 2009), was adopted to investigate the gender differences regarding secondary school students’ motivation and their English achievements in Hong Kong. 30 male and 30 female freshmen studying in various departments in the University of Hong Kong participated in this study. Their level of motivation in English learning was measured through a questionnaire consisted of 30 questions scored on a 7-point Likert scale. Interviews were conducted afterwards to generate qualitative data so as to assist quantitative analysis. By using independent sample t-test, Pearson correlation test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), it was found that female respondents showed higher levels of language learning experience than male respondents, but learners’ English achievements were only positively correlated to their levels of ideal self. The relationship of gender, motivation and English achievement was therefore re-examined. It was discovered that Arts students tended to out-perform their Science peers in English studies. Meanwhile, male and female learners were found to dominate Science stream and Arts stream respectively owing to the social facet of their ideal selves. As a result, the gender differences regarding secondary school students’ English achievements were highly likely to be originated from males’ domination in Science stream and that of females in Arts stream. This brought about pedagogical implications for educators, in that more resources should be reallocated for Science students regarding English learning. / published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

Not available / text

Not available / text

Not available / text

Gender is the strongest and most consistent correlate of crime and delinquency, but the reason is unclear and traditionally understudied in criminology. The current study tests the ability of a general theory of crime and deviance, general strain theory (GST), to explain gender differences in responses to strain. Preliminary research suggests that while girls and boys share many of the same types of strain, they also are exposed to qualitatively different types of strain and experience different types of negative emotions that may lead to gendered patterns of behavioral problems. Moreover, girls are thought to have fewer internal coping resources with which to cope. Using a sample of 1,915 adolescents from Wave 2 of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods: Longitudinal Cohort Study (1994-2001), I assess the effects of exposure to violence, sexual victimization, loss of close others, school strain, and fear of victimization on a range of behavioral outcomes including aggressive delinquency, running away, minor theft, substance use, suicidal behavior, and high risk sexual behavior. I also examine the extent to which these effects are mediated by anger, and the conditioning effects of depression and self-efficacy. Results indicate that girls are more exposed to sexual victimization, loss of close others, and fear of victmization, and boys are more exposed to general violence and school strain. However, girls and boys are equally vulnerable to exposure to violence and loss of close others, but respond in gendered ways. Depression and self-efficacy play important roles in explaining the nature of girls' problem behaviors: depression amplifies the effects of exposure to violence, sexual victimization, and loss of close others on running away and suicidality, while reducing the effect of anger on aggressive delinquency. Self-efficacy reduces the effects of exposure to violence and loss of close others on most outcomes, as well as the effect of depression on running away. This research advances the effort to explain how gender influences the complex relationships among strain, negative emotion, selfefficacy, and problematic coping behaviors, and makes a broad contribution to both criminology and the sociology of mental health.

No description available.

Not available / text

No description available.

No description available.

The current study was designed to examine sex differences in the stability of same-sex friendships. Based on past research, it was hypothesized that boys have more stable friendship nominations than girls. Four hundred fifty-one elementary and high school students from grades three, four, seven and eight completed questionnaires in which they were asked to nominate their closest friends. Friendship nominations were collected three times over a seventh month period, in the fall, winter and spring of the school year. Partial support was obtained for the hypothesis at the high school level: Adolescent boys had more stable friendship nominations than adolescent girls. No sex differences in stability were evident at the elementary level. At all grade levels, fewer friendship nominations were made at the beginning of the year and friendship stability was lowest over the longer time interval from fall to spring. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of the stability of friendships for peer social support.