The purpose of this study was to compare the achievement of students who participated in a freshman academy program to the achievement of those who participated in the traditional high school curriculum. The researcher used grade point average and composite ACT score as determinants of achievement. The population consisted of the graduating classes of 2009 and 2010 at one East Tennessee high school. Independent sample t tests evaluated the relationship between achievement and type of freshman experience. The independent variables were participation in the freshman academy, being male, being female, and race. The dependent variables were grade point average and ACT composite score. The researcher made comparisons between all students, female students, male students, African American students, and white students in both programs. The quantitative findings revealed that males who participated in the freshmen academy achieved at a significantly higher rate than males who did not. In addition, the findings indicated white students who participated in the academy performed at a significantly higher rate than African American students who participated in the academy. There were no significant differences in the achievement of the entire population of each class, female students, white students, or African American students.

This study examined the relationship between domestic abuse, belongingness, and depressive symptoms in a community sample of 71 female primary care patients. As expected, domestic abuse was associated with greater depressive symptoms. Results from conducting mediation analyses, including bootstrapping techniques, provided strong convergent support for a model in which the hypothesized effect of domestic abuse on depressive symptoms in women is mediated by a loss of belongingness. Noteworthy, even after controlling for content overlap between measures of belongingness and depressive symptoms, the mediation model remained significant. Some implications of the present findings are discussed.

This study examined the challenges that female educational managers face in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan. The purposes of the study were: to explore the challenges that female educational managers face in maintaining and obtaining their managerial positions, to identify the strategies that they employed in coping with those challenges, and to validate the participant questionnaire in KPK. This is a qualitative case study that was conducted in three phases: exploration, reinforcement, and validation. The data were collected through interviews, observations, and field notes. In the first and second phase, nine female managers from three districts participated, while the third phase engaged 15 participants. This study found that participants faced challenges at both the entry and workplace levels and that the challenges limited participants’’ efficiency and effectiveness in their managerial roles. Participants identified professional development courses, collaboration, acknowledgement, flexibility, and accountability as effective strategies for dealing with challenges. Finally, the study found the participant questionnaire to be a valid instrument (with modifications) in the context of KPK. It can be proved a useful tool to collect data on a larger scale. This study recommends a prerequisite degree in educational leadership for future educational managers, a proper induction method for new managers, and some policy- level changes that would empower managers to deal with challenges effectively. It concludes that the Participant Questionnaire is a cross-culturally valid tool and can be utilized by researchers in Pakistan, as well as other countries. Keywords: challenges to females in educational management, politics and educational management, female management in Pakistan

A sub-sample of 814 nonvirgin, adolescent females was drawn from the 1979 U. S. National Survey of Young Women in order to study the correlates of age at first sexual intercourse. This sample was analyzed using a conceptual model developed from past research, as well as some intuitively interesting associations meriting investigation. Multiple regression procedures were used in analysis of variables by block. In the block analysis several variables were found to predict age at first sexual intercourse. These variables included all the control variables (respondent's age, race, religion, and age at menarche), household income, ideal age for first marriage, ideal age for first birth, and enjoyment of dangerous activities. The control variables were found to account for a major portion of the variance in the model. Of the controls, chronological age and age at menarche were highly significant across all the models tested. The significant independent variables in the model were total household income, ideal age for marriage and ideal age at first birth, however, these three variables accounted for a small proportion of the total variance in the model, net of controls.

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.

This study bridges the gap in literature about the impact of father absence on female adult attachment and current stress levels. A sample of 666 female college students between the ages of 18 and 22 at the University of Kentucky was recruited to complete an online survey about their experience with their fathers and the effects on their attachment and stress levels, while assessing the age of their first sexual experience. Father absence seems to be a significant predictor of earlier sexual activity among females and anxious attachment styles, along with higher stress levels. When the father is absent from the home, females have sex earlier than when the father is present in the home. Females who experience father absence have higher anxious attachment levels and higher current stress levels. These findings inform therapists about the importance of recognizing attachment injuries when dealing with individuals and supports the need for mother and father involvement in a female’s life.

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

Smoking is now the leading cause of preventable death and disease in women. Understanding women's motivations to smoke is important in developing effective cessation and relapse prevention programs. Women, more so than men, appear to associate their smoking behavior to issues of weight. Although a general relationship between weight concerns and smoking has been found among women, a causal relationship had not been demonstrated. This study tested whether activation of negative body image cognitions would produce greater urges to smoke and whether the relationship would be moderated by trait body dissatisfaction and mediated by state body dissatisfaction. A randomized 2 X 2 crossed factorial, within-subjects design (body image cues X smoking cues) was conducted with 62 female college smokers. The body image manipulation comprised an image of either a thin model or a neutral object, and the smoking manipulation comprised an image of either a smoking cue or a neutral object. Participants completed pre-intervention measures assessing smoking history and body image dissatisfaction. Urge to smoke, mood state, and weight and appearance satisfaction were assessed during the experiment. It was hypothesized that main effects on reported urge to smoke would be found for both manipulations, with body dissatisfaction moderating the body image manipulation. Results indicated that both smoking cues and thin model images increased reported urges to smoke. Additionally, in the absence of smoking cues, the effect of the body image manipulation was moderated by baseline body dissatisfaction, with those women with greater body dissatisfaction reacting more strongly to the thin model image. The effect on smoking urges by the body image manipulation was partially mediated by both state measures of affect and body satisfaction. Thus,this study is the first to demonstrate through an experimental design that the presentation of images portraying thin women increased smoking urge, which is consistent with a causal influence of body image affecting their smoking motivation.

Eating disorders affect individuals from most ethnic backgrounds. Research suggests that White females experience the greatest levels of disordered eating and body dissatisfaction. Studies examining Chinese females found they experienced similar levels of disordered eating but less body dissatisfaction to White females. This study was conducted to examine the prevalence of eating disorder symptomatology in Chinese and Other ethnicities in New Zealand. A sample of female university students at the University of Waikato completed questionnaires (N=116) to assess disordered eating and body dissatisfaction. In contrast to previous findings Chinese females actually exhibited more disordered eating behaviours and body dissatisfaction attitudes than did other females living in New Zealand. Also, fear of weight gain was more likely to be exhibited by Chinese females than other females. Pressure to be thin came from similar sources for both Chinese and other female students. While, length of time living in New Zealand did not appear to alter Chinese females' levels of disordered eating and body dissatisfaction. However in keeping with previous research, the present findings did suggest that the data from this study support the suggestion that the EAT-26 may not be an appropriate measure for Chinese females when assessing eating disorders. These findings have important implications for future research on ethnicities and eating disorders, and for clinicians working with Chinese female clients.

Multiple choice testing has been introduced as an assessment instrument in almost all educational systems during the past twenty years. A growing body of research seems to indicate that tests structured to a multiple choice format favour males. In the ACT, Queensland and Western Australia, a multiple choice examination known as ASAT was used to moderate student scores. Using data from the 1989 ASAT Paper 1, as well as data from the ACT Year 12 cohort of that year, an investigation was made of the items in the ASAT paper. This investigation attempted to identify specific types of questions that enabled males, on average, to perform better than females. Questions, which had a statistically significant difference between the results of males and females, were examined further. An ASAT unit was given to students to complete and their answers to a questionnaire concerning the unit were taped and analysed. The study found that males performed better, on average, than females on the 1989 ASAT Paper 1. The mean difference in the quantitative questions was much greater than in the verbal questions. A number of factors appear to contribute to the difference in performance between males and females. A statistically significant number of females study Mathematics at a lower level, which appears to contribute to females lower quantatitive scores. Females seem to be considerably more anxious about taking tests and this anxiety remains throughout a multiple choice test. Females lack confidence in their ability to achieve in tests and are tentative about "risktaking" which is an element of multiple choice tests. The language of the test and male oriented content may contribute to females' negative performance in multiple choice testing.