Att belysa folkbibliotekariens egna erfarenheter av det läsfrämjande arbete med läsande förebilder som metod är relevant för att få en djupare förståelse för vilken betydelse arbetssättet har för att främja barns och ungas läsning. Insikt om detta kan utgöra ett underlag för utvärdering av arbetssättet utifrån ett professionellt perspektiv och öka medvetenheten om metodens relevans. Det är en kvalitativ intervjustudie vars resultat är insamlat från fyra intervjuer med folkbibliotekarier som är verksamma inom samarbeten med läsande förebilder. För att tolka resultatet så använder studien två skilda teorier; Bourdieus teori om kulturell reproduktion och Banduras sociala inlärningsteori. Det framgick bland annat att läsande förebilder är en metod med stark tilltro och det fanns en uppfattning om att vuxna i barns vardag är betydelsefulla läsande förebilder. En läsande förebild är framförallt någon som barnet vill identifiera sid med. Filckor ansågs ha bättre förutsättningar att se sig själva som läsare, varvid en uppfattning var att målgruppen pojkar bör prioriteras i det läsfrämjande arbetet. Betoningen lades dock vid att flickor inte får glömmas bort. / To highlight the public librarian's own experience of working with reading role models as a type of reading promotion method is relevant when you to get a deeper understanding of the type of impact that the method has on children's and young adults reading. Insight into this can form a basis for evaluating the working method from a professional perspective and increase awareness of the method's relevance. It is a qualitative interview study whose results are collected from four interviews with public librarians active in collaborations with reading role models. To interpret the results the study uses two different theories; Bourdieu's theory of cultural reproduction and Bandura's social learning theory. Among other things, it emerge that reading role models is a method with strong trust and there was a perception that adults in children's everyday life are important reading role models. A reading role model is above all someone with whom the child wants to identify. Girls were considered to have better conditions to see themselves as readers, whereas one opinion was that the target group boys should be prioritized in the work to promote reading. However, emphasis was placed on the fact that girls must not be forgotten.

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This dissertation brings new causal evidence on three topics in education and health. In the first chapter, I study how in-utero exposure to floods affects the education and health outcomes of individuals. I focus on the 1982-1983 El Niño event in Peru to exploit a natural experiment. I assess the impacts of plausible and exogenous in-utero exposure to excess rainfall on education achievement at adulthood. I find that individuals exposed in-utero to the 1982-1983 El Niño floods, have less chances to have completed primary education at adulthood with different effects by place of residence and gender. In the second chapter, I study how a low-cost face-to-face intervention, that exposed senior-year high school students to female role models affects career preferences and reduces the gender preference gap for STEM programs in Peru in a randomized controlled trial. I find that exposure to role models increased preference for engineering majors only for those girls in the top math ability quartile; and that the effect was stronger for those who reside geographically close to the role models' university. Finally, in the third chapter, I investigate how to optimally allocate students to academic programs. I evaluate external signals of ability transmitted to students by academic probation rules in Peru using a regression discontinuity design. The analysis suggests that academic probation is associated with higher drop-out rates from programs and a deterioration in subsequent academic performance. I conclude that in a society with predominant gender norms, signals of ability could aid to the retention of only qualified students in selected programs with further implications on aggregate productivity and the allocation of talent. / Doctor of Philosophy / This study sought to understand how exposure to different adverse events in life affects individuals' decision choices. I focus on a developing country, Peru, where returns to education are high and investment in human capital can improve individuals' lives. In the first chapter, I study how prenatal exposure to extreme weather conditions (i.e. the 1982-1983 El Niño floods in Peru) affected the education achievement of those individuals when they were older. This adverse and unpredictable event, affecting the evolution of babies while in-utero, during the nine months of gestation, reduced the probability that the exposed individual had completed primary education. In the second chapter, I implement an experiment in the field to understand the effect of the exposure to role models on the reduction of the gender gap in careers that are male dominated such as Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). The gender gap in STEM fields is a major cause of concern for policymakers around the world since it not only contributes to talent misallocation but also critically deepens gender-based socioeconomic inequalities. I find that a brief exposure to role models of about 20 minutes increases preferences for engineering majors of high talented female high school students, and I attribute this to inspiration rather than information mechanisms. The evidence suggests that, inspired by role models, high math ability girls had increased self-confidence for succeeding in engineering majors. Finally, in the third chapter I investigate the misallocation of students to academic programs and more specifically the effect of one university policy related to academic probation on attrition rates and subsequent academic performance. Academic probation is a warning received by students failing to make substantial academic progress required for graduation. By receiving academic probation, students get additional information of their capabilities to successfully complete a degree. The analysis suggests that academic probation is associated with higher drop-out rates from programs and a deterioration in subsequent academic performance aiding to the retention of only qualified students in selected fields of study.

Bakgrund: Att vara fysiskt aktiv som ungdom ger positiva hälsoeffekter. Skolsköterskors hälsosamtal är anses stärka hälsan generellt men forskning visar att dessa samtal endast har begränsad effekt på ungdomars livsstil och att det behövs fördjupad kunskap om vad som motiverar ungdomar att vara fysiskt aktiva. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att beskriva vad som motiverar ungdomar att fortsatt vara fysiskt aktiva. Metod: 10 ungdomar i åldern 15-19 år intervjuats och en kvalitativ innehållsanalys har gjorts. Resultat: Ungdomar har motivation att fortsatt vara fysiskt aktiva när de känner att kroppen ger respons i form av att de känner sig piggare och har mer energi. Det är viktigt för ungdomarna att känna gemenskap med gruppen särskilt om ungdomarna sinsemellan ger varandra beröm för vad de presterar och uppmuntrar varandra till att träna. Förebilder och personliga mål ger också ökad motivation. Diskussion och konklusion: Studiens resultat kan användas av skolsköterskor i samtal med ungdomar. Det är av vikt att belysa alla delar som resultatet visar och att samtidigt ha i åtanke att fysisk aktivitet tenderar att ändra sig beroende på vilken årstid det är. Studiens resultat ger också indikation på att det behövs fördjupade kunskaper om den process det innebär att vara fysiskt aktiv / Background: An active lifestyle in adolescent years contributes to good overall health. Even though schoolnurses healthconversations are seen as a part of healthpromotion to maintain overall health, research shows, that conversations that school nurses carry through have limited impact on adolescent’s healthbehavior. Further research is needed concerning motivationfactors. Aim: To illuminate what motivationsfactors adolescents need to continue being physicaly active. Method:Ten adolescents aged 15-19 have been interviewed and a qualitative content analysis has been made. Result:Wellbeing according the physically active lifestyle, fellowship and solidarity within the sportsteam, the fact that group members praise and give each other credit for what they accomplish and encouragement to proceed the training, rollmodels and personal goals are-are important motivation factors. Discussion and conclusion:If the result is used in schoolnurses conversations related to health and physical activity with adolescents, all parts of the result are important to illuminate whilst still keeping in mind that physical activity tends to change according to current season. The study indicates that further knowledge about the motivation process that is crucial in order to maintain a physically active lifestyle is needed.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att se hur moraliska föredömen framställs i två texter av olika karaktär - Stefan Einhorns berättelse ”Läraren” samt Aisopos fabel Lejonet och musen. För att få fram dessa moraliska föredömen genomförs en narrativ analys. För att lyfta likheter och skillnader i de båda texterna används berättar- och lyssnarinstans samt symboler och allegorier från den narrativa analysen. Berättar- och lyssnarinstans används för att se till den konkreta texten medan symboler och allegorier används för att se det underliggande budskapet. I analysen jämförs även texternas sensmoraler och hur de båda är uppbyggda fram till sensmoralen. Texterna jämförs för att se huruvida de båda kan verka som didaktiska texter.Grundtanken är att försöka komma fram till ifall respektive text kan ses som exempel på moraliska föredömen utifrån exemplumgenren. Vidare ligger syftet vid att försöka förstå hur texterna tas emot av läsaren och hur framställningen av de moraliska föredömena sker. Tanken är att se huruvida enklare texter kan fungera som moraliska ”kompasser” för människor. Slutsatsen blir att ingen av de valda texterna har ett narrativt djup vilket gör de svåra att analyser. Men bara för att en text inte har ett narrativt djup så behöver det inte betyda att den inte har en mening eller ett budskap den vill förmedla. Därför fungerar båda verk bra som exemplum då tolkningen är att författarnas syfte med texterna är att vara sedelärande. / The purpose of this paper is to see how the role models in moral are visible in two texts of different character - Stefan Einhorns short story "teacher" and Aisopo's fable Lejonet och musen. To obtain these moral role models a narrative analysis was used. To highlight the similarities and differences in the two texts a narrative- and listen instance as well as symbols and allegories from the narrative analysis are used. Narrative- and listen instance is used to analyze the concrete text and symbols and allegories are used to see the underlying message. The analysis also compared the texts morals and how the two are built up to the moral. The texts are compared to see whether the text can be seen as didactic texts. The basic idea is to try to come to the event and the text can be seen as examples of moral examples based on the exemplum genere. Further the aim at trying to understand how texts are received by the reader and the production of the moral role models occurs. The idea is to see whether simple texts can act as a moral "compass" for the people. The conclusion is that none of the selected texts have a narrative depth which makes them difficult to analysis. But just because a text does not have a narrative depth that does not mean that it does not have a meaning or a message it wants to convey. Therefore both texts works good as exemplum when the interpretation is that the authors' purpose of the texts is to learn the listener about there moral.

The master thesis, "The significance of male role models in adolescence: Contribution to male psychology" focuses on knowledges of social sciences of the concept of masculinity. The thesis emphasizes male role models and their significance for the process of male identity development in adolescence and emerging adulthood. The theoretical part is divided into four main chapters. The first chapter describes terms of gender, patriarchy and mens crisis and makes preliminary frame of the whole text. The second chapter presents biological, social and psychological aspects of masculinity. The third chapter pursues socialization process and its gender aspects in two following periods - adolescence and emerging adulthood. The forth, fundamental, chapter is dedicated to male rites of passage and male role models and their psychological significance. The empirical part describes the qualitative research procedure - the maping study including six adult males at the age of around thirty. Semi-structured interviews and subsequent analysis illustrate selected phenomenons related to masculinity, male role and male role models without a claim for any generalization.

The purpose of this study was to conduct a qualitative analysis of service learning. This analysis was performed to collect data on student perceptions of service learning and to understand the importance of service learning on community college students in their own words. Data were collected through interviews with 24 community college participants from Virginia Highlands Community College and Mountain Empire Community College, both in Southwest Virginia. I used a nonstandard interview because it is less abrupt, remote and arbitrary than the structured interview. I wanted to tap into the experiences of these students to learn what they thought, how they felt, and how service learning benefited or did not benefit them. Permission to conduct this study was granted by the Institutional Review Board. Personal contact was made with school officials. Interviews were conducted in phases depending upon the availability and convenience of the participant. Findings showed that students involved in service learning experience many outcomes. These ranged from hands-on experience, social benefits, academic benefits especially in the area of accounting, civic responsibility, personal efficacy, civic mindedness and community building, developing a meaningful philosophy on life, appreciation for diversity, altruism and student autonomy. Findings did show that time and family or job responsibilities seemed to be the reason more students do not get involved. Students were concerned about the lack of enthusiasm from the instructors. They also said there would be more student participation if lab time, like a biology or science lab, were built into the service hours.

Females have been discouraged from taking science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) classes during high school and college, resulting in limited access to high-paying STEM careers. Therefore, these females could miss opportunities for these high-paying careers. The rationale of this research was to quantify the relationship between the number of STEM classes the sampled females took, the number of female role models they had during high school and college, their career choices, and salaries. The theoretical construct was based on Erikson's social developmental theory, which postulates a relationship between earlier life events and later life events, and Acker's masculinity theory, which postulates that females in traditionally male fields may be uneasy performing functions opposite to what they naturally perform. Key questions examined the relationships between STEM classes, role models, career choices, and salaries. The sample was a stratified random sample (n = 48) of female alumnae of 4 universities, born after 1980. Data were collected from a designed online instrument, validated by a pilot. The data were analyzed with a multiple regression and an analysis of variance. The findings revealed a significant relationship between the number of STEM classes, career choices and salary. However, there was no significance found between the numbers of role models, career choices and salary The implication for social change is that by making scholars in the fields of education and management aware about the relationship between the number of STEM classes taken, career choices, and salaries, females can be more encouraged to become interested in STEM courses earlier in life, making it more likely they will choose STEM careers This can be accomplished through scholarly journals, which hopefully will improve perceptions of the STEM abilities of females.

The aim of this study is to deepen the understanding of women's working conditions within the NGO sector in Colombia, and to find out what factors that impact women’s possibilities for achievements. Through out a qualitative approach five interviews with women were conductedin Bogotá, the capital of Colombia. The collected data was analyzed by a qualitative content analysis, with the purpose to find themes and categorizations in the material, in order to interpret the respondents’ experiences and how they present them. The analysis shows, that what all respondents have in common is that previous life events and a dedication to contribute to societal changes, seem to be the most vital factors in terms of how they got to where they are today. In various ways, they all have noticed flaws in the system, to which they have committed full-hearted to change. Further, the results indicate that women’s likeability to be recognized as leaders are greater within the NGO sector, than in the society at large. However, despite the similarities found the results correspondingly show that there are differences in terms of perceptions as well as experiences. Thus, the results indicate the need to take various aspects into account, in order not to neglect the impact of different dimensions and factors.

Studien syftar till att få en djupare insikt i hur sociala och kulturella faktorer påverkar barn och ungdomar i deras val av instrument för studier på en kulturskola. I bakgrundskapitlet presenteras tidigare forskning och annan relevant litteratur inom studiens ämnesområde. Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkter utgörs av det sociokulturella perspektivet. Studiens metod utgörs av den kvalitativa intervjun. Sex nybörjare, tre flickor och tre pojkar i åldrarna 8-10 deltog i studien. I resultatet framkommer att omgivningen, media, musikskolan och barnet själv är faktorer som på olika sätt har påverkat barnen i deras val av instrument. Framförallt visas på att förebilder har haft en inspirerande påverkan och att informanterna bildade sig en egen uppfattning av vilka instrument de gillade och ogillade om de hade fått prova på att spela dessa. Även diskussionen lägger tonvikt på förebilder och barns egen uppfattning om val av instrument. Detta diskuteras i relation till tidigare forskning samt det sociokulturella perspektivet. / The study aims to gain a deeper understanding of how social and cultural factors influence children and young people in their choice of instruments for studies at a music school. In the background chapter, previous research and other relevant literature in the study subject are presented. The study's theoretical point is the socio-cultural perspective. The study's method is the qualitative interview. Six novices, three girls and three boys between the ages of 8-10 participated in the study. The result shows that the environment, media, music school and the child itself are factors that in different ways have influenced the children in their choice of instruments. The result highlights that role models have had an inspiring effect and that informants formed their own opinion of what instruments they liked and disliked if they had the chance to play them. The discussion chapter also puts emphasis on role models and children’s own perception in the matter of choice of instruments. This is discussed in relation to previous research, and the socio-cultural perspective.