Master of Science / Department of Apparel, Textiles, and Interior Design / Joy Kozar / The thin female body-type perpetuated in the media has historically caused decreased body satisfaction in adolescent and young adult females (Dittmar, 2009). Previous studies have examined the impact of these images in traditional media, but few studies have examined images seen in social media. Therefore, this study examined how social media impacts the body satisfaction of adolescent and young adult females through the variables of age, time spent on social media, social comparison behaviors, and appearance-related attitudes. The study utilized a sample of females between the ages of 14 to 25. As a component of this study, age was broken into two groups, creating a younger (14-18) and older (19-25) group. This allowed the researcher to make comparisons between the two age groups in relation to the variables being studied. An online questionnaire was utilized as part of this study and distributed to college professors, high school instructors, high school and college-age students, and via social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. A total of 357 female respondents between the ages of 14 and 25 years old participated in the study. Of the 357 participants, 140 (39.2%) were in the age category of 14-18 and 217 (60.8%) were in the age category of 19-25. Results indicated that participants who accessed their social media accounts more times per day were more likely to engage in social comparison behavior to fashion models and celebrities and peers. In addition, the more participants compared themselves with fashion models and celebrities and peers, the higher their appearance-related attitudes, which lowered their body satisfaction. Age was not a significant factor in predicting time spent on social media, participation in social comparison behavior, or appearance-related attitudes. However, among the sample, younger participants were overall more satisfied with their body than older participants. It was determined that on average, participants checked their social media accounts between 5 and 15 times a day and spent three or less hours daily on social media. These findings have important implications for the fashion and cosmetics industries and AT educators. The results indicate that social media has an impact on young women’s body satisfaction.

Adolescent substance abuse represents a complex, difficult challenge in the United States. Substance addiction research requires rich contextualization that takes into account individual, familial, and community experiences. This project focuses on how adolescent girls' substance use interacts with risk and vulnerability. More specifically, how the social and biological body influences substance initiation and how local contexts and constraints effects recovery from addiction. The sample includes adolescent girls who are enrolled in substance abuse treatment programs. The methodological approach encompasses a mixture of quantitative and qualitative, including analysis of a nation-wide dataset, narrative interviews, participant observation, and case following. While the quantitative analysis was with the nation-wide dataset, the qualitative data are derived from a sample of adolescent girls in Tucson, Arizona. Risk is assessed along three axes, biocultural, familial, and structural. Biocultural risk examines the influence that an early pubertal developmental trajectory has on substance initiation. Familial risk analyzes how the culture and habitus of the family affects youth initiation of substance use. Structural risk highlights the continued vulnerability that youth who are raised in the `system' face and specifically their challenges to recovery after substance abuse treatment. Findings from the nation-wide sample include a significant relationship between pubertal timing and age of onset of substance use. In the Tucson sample, familial immersion in substance use was so extensive that girls were not only expected to begin using but also initiation of use became a 'rite of passage' within the family. Finally this research documents the unintended role the child welfare system plays as a structural impediment to girls' recovery from substance abuse.

STUDENT NUMBER: 0301561E MASTERS OF EDUCATION FACULTY OF HUMANITIES-DISCIPLINE OF SPECIALISED EDUCATION / The purpose of this study was to examine whether: actual and ideal body mass index (BMI) scores, perception of a weight problem, racial identity, physical exercise, weight control behaviour and stage of pubertal development predict levels of global self-esteem in average academic achieving English speaking middle-class adolescent females. The sample consisted of 90 females, ranging in age from 13 years 3 months to 18 years 7 months who were attending Benoni High School. BMI was measured and desired BMI based on self-reported weight and height. Self-perception of having a weight problem was evaluated by one question: “Do you see yourself as having a weight problem?” Self-esteem was measured in two ways: firstly participants completed the Rosenburg Self-esteem Scale and secondly homeroom teachers were asked to give a score of global self-esteem. A significant association was found between global self-esteem and: a perceived weight problem, actual BMI and race. No significant association was found between global self-esteem and: weight control behaviour; physical exercise, age of menarcheal onset and ideal BMI. KEY WORDS Global self-esteem, adolescent females, BMI, racial identity, weight control behaviour, physical exercise and pubertal development

Identity development is recognized as the key developmental task of late adolescence . The family is thought to serve as a facilitating factor in this development. Traditionally, reference to the family's role in adolescent identity development has alluded to the nuclear family and to parents in particular. However, a growing consensus that nuclear families are not emotionally and psychologically isolated from extended families has permitted greater acceptance of the extended family, especially grandparents, as an integral part of the family . The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between grandparent involvement and adolescent identity development. Identity development was measured by the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status, which is based on the four identity statuses (Achieved, Moratorium, Foreclosed, and Diffused). Grandparent involvement was measured quantitatively and qualitatively. A sample of 82 female participants in age group 18-20 was recruited from college freshmen enrolled in family and human development courses in the fall quarter 1991. The results indicate when considering grandparent involvement qualitatively, commitment within identity development appeared to be the most prevalent contributory factor while crisis (i.e., exploration) seemed to contribute when examining the quantity of the relationship. This would seem to indicate that the time adolescent grandchildren and grandparents spend together is affected to a large extent by whether the adolescent is in the process of exploring his identity while the adolescent's attitude about grandparents is more affected by commitment in her sense of identity.

In India, ranked 132nd out of 148 countries in the United Nations Gender Inequality Index (2013), females face numerous challenges that pose a threat to their sexual health and psychological well-being. This paper focuses specifically on adolescent unmarried females living in an urban slum, a particularly vulnerable segment of the population that is important to empower in order to effect change. With the ultimate aim to better understand how to design effective and accessible interventions for adolescent females, this paper explores sexual health and its relation to psychological well-being from the perspectives of multiple stakeholders: adolescent girls, mothers of adolescent girls, and service providers who work with adolescent girls. To understand the unique and shared perspectives of the stakeholders regarding the constructs of psychological well-being, gender roles, and sexual health, the author utilized focus group and interview data. Through the use of the deductive-inductive coding process, the author identified overall themes and differences in perspective that elucidated the perspectives of the population. The findings revealed that there is great overlap in the three constructs studied, and each is influenced by and impacts the other. Additionally, the findings showed a trend of girls, mothers, and service providers understanding the importance of girls having access to sexual health information and openness towards mothers potentially sharing this information with daughters. Other implications, future research directions, and limitations are discussed. / acase@tulane.edu

INTRODUCTION: Since 2006, the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) has recommended routine vaccination of adolescent girls at ages 11 or 12 years with 3 doses of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. Cervical cancer disparities exist for several populations in the United States. The topic is scantly documented in scholarly literature with modest knowledge of the uptake of the HPV vaccine in the Delta region. AIM: To examine the HPV vaccination coverage estimates in the counties and parishes that comprise the Delta Regional Authority (DRA) and compare with other non-DRA counties or parishes and the rest of US. This will provide vaccination coverage estimates for adolescent females in the DRA designated Delta region that will provide public health professionals with data for policy and programmatic decision-making. METHODS: We combined data from multiple survey years (2008-2012) from the National Immunization Survey-Teen (NIS-Teen). We conducted bivariate analyses to describe the distribution across selected socio-demographic characteristics and multivariable logistic regression models to produce adjusted prevalence ratios. RESULTS: Teens in the DRA had lower HPV vaccine initiation and completion rates compared to Non- DRA counties or parishes and the Rest of the US. The 3-dose HPV vaccination series completion rate among those who had initiated HPV vaccination and had 24 weeks between their first dose and the NIS interview date was 60.9% (95% CI: 55.8 – 65.8) among adolescent females in the DRA compared to 66.9 (95% CI: 63.7-70.0) of adolescent females in the Non-DRA counties and 67.6% (95% CI: 66.2-69.0) in the rest of the US. CONCLUSION: The low HPV vaccination coverage among adolescents in the DRA showed that it is important to implement additional strategies to increase HPV vaccination coverage that will prevent cancers associated with HPV in the DELTA Region. Stronger provider recommendations and awareness are important for increasing HPV vaccine uptake.

Cardiovascular fitness levels in physical education have decreased for males and females in an inner-city high school, with female cardiovascular fitness decreasing the most. Cardiovascular fitness is important because participating in cardio exercises decreases health issues such as obesity and cardio problems. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the views of teachers regarding low cardiovascular fitness among adolescent females in physical education and how a professional development could help teachers to address the problem. Bandura’s social learning theory was used as the study’s conceptual framework. Semistructured and open-ended interview questions were used to collect data from 6 veteran PE teachers to address the research questions regarding teachers’ experiences in promoting cardiovascular exercises, levels of participation in cardiovascular exercises, and perceptions of professional development to help ameliorate the problem. Participant responses to the open-ended interview questions were analyzed by coding common words to create categories to develop themes. Qualitative findings revealed that participants started to notice low cardiovascular endurance in 9th grade, that professional development was not geared towards improving female adolescent activities nor assisting PE teachers in how to model these. A professional development, via the proposed project, was developed that will provide activities that can be used by both new and seasoned physical education teachers. Social change will occur in that implementation of the ideas shared in project may lead to a healthier and physically active lifestyle when students reach adulthood.

The aim of the present study was to explore the ways adolescent females, age 14 through 17, utilized social networking websites such as MySpace and Facebook for communication, self-presentation and identity development purposes. Uses and gratifications theory served as a framework for identifying the participants' motivations for heavily using these websites, which allow users to post pictures, interests and updates for their friends to view and interact with online. Using a qualitative method, one preliminary focus group and ten in-depth interviews were conducted, totaling fifteen female participants between the ages of 14 and 17. Interview questions covered topics such as peer interactions through social networking sites, posting personal content to their profile pages, self-presentations through pictures and text, creating and maintaining friendships through these sites, and negative and positive feedback received through comments. Results indicated that the participants frequently used social networking websites for five main gratifications: Information Sharing, Convenient Communication, Self-Expression, Friendship Formation and Social Support.

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