Magister Social Work -MSW / Teenage parenting is recognised as one of the greatest health and social problems in South Africa. Research in South Africa has shown that by the age of 18 years, more than 30% of teens have given birth at least once. Teen mothers may feel disempowered because they are ‘othered’ and consequently, may develop forms of resistance which in most cases may inhibit their ability to parent. Social support is therefore, an imperative intervention for successful teen parenting. Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological systems theory proposes that social support could be considered to reside within the microsystem of the model if the developing person is the teen mother. The aim of this study was to compare social support of different family forms and establish whether a relationship between single teen mothers’ parental efficacy and social support exists across the different family forms. This study used a quantitative methodology with a cross-sectional comparative correlation design. The sample consisted of N = 160 single teen mothers who reside with her family for a period of one year or is currently residing with her family or members thereof, in low socio-economic communities. The participants completed a self-report questionnaire that comprised of the Social Provisions Scale (SPS), and the Parenting Sense of Competence (PSOC) scale. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation were used to investigate the data. Outcomes of the study indicated that a significant positive relationship between social support and parental efficacy existed. These findings are important for planning and applying parenting programmes amongst single teen mothers and facilitating awareness regarding the importance of social support and family forms when considering parenting practices.

“From Slasher to Slaptsick: How Rewriting The Queen Bee Took Me from Horror to Teen Comedy” examines the process of switching preferred film genres through rewriting an existing script on assignment. / text

This thesis explores theories of postfeminism and discourses of “can-do” and “at-risk” girlhood as they are enacted in MTV’s teen pregnancy franchise, which I define as including 16 and Pregnant, Teen Mom, and Teen Mom 2. Specifically, this project examines how MTV frames the young mothers featured across this franchise as what I label “postfeminist failures.” Within its teen pregnancy programming, MTV exploits the shortcomings of the featured teen mothers. These failures include broken relationships, prison sentences, and subsequent pregnancy scares and pregnancies. Furthermore, these failures all stem from the teen mothers’ initial failure to adequately manage her sexuality, as evidenced by getting pregnant at age sixteen. These failures constitute much of the plot of MTV’s docu-dramatic series and have also spilled over into paratexts related to MTV’s franchise. I contest in this thesis that the rhetoric of postfeminist failure, first articulated and exploited in 16 and Pregnant, Teen Mom, and Teen Mom 2, is then reproduced in the franchise’s paratextual materials. These paratexts range from reunion shows hosted by Dr. Drew Pinsky to tabloid magazine coverage. I also interrogate the celebrity status of MTV’s featured teen mothers, especially those on Teen Mom and Teen Mom 2, and problematize publicity and fame rooted in the failure of these girls to adhere to normative standards of postfeminist womanhood. MTV’s teen pregnancy franchise is categorized as reality television, a genre derided by many scholars as lowbrow and devoid of substance. In order to combat these assumptions about reality television, particularly because this teen pregnancy franchise is promoted as educational for its audience, MTV has fostered strategic partnerships with The Kaiser Family Foundation’s “It’s Your (Sex) Life Campaign” and The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Through these partnerships, MTV has infused its reality content with pathways to information-rich websites about contraceptives and pregnancy prevention sponsored by each non-profit. Through analyzing these partnerships and cultural discourses surrounding teen pregnancy, I question the assumption by many proponents and critics of the franchise that the content must either be educational for its viewers or purely entertaining programming. / text

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There is extensive evidence indicating that teenaged drivers are over-represented in automobile crashes. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for 15-20 year olds, accounting for over 40% of all fatalities for this age group. Although teen drivers account for only 6.3% of the driving population, they account for 14% of all traffic fatalities (TSF, 2004). Currently there is a lack of continuous and naturalistic data in the field of teenaged driving. The purpose of this study was to obtain continuous performance data from a naturalistic setting by equipping the personal vehicles of newly licensed teenaged drivers with a data collection system for the first six months of driving. Specifically, this study examined the eye scanning patterns of newly licensed teenaged drivers and experienced parent drivers on straight road segment. This study provides insight into the development and change of eye-glance behaviors over the first six months of driving, the differences between novice teenaged drivers and experienced parent drivers, and how passenger presence affects eye scanning patterns. Results from this study found significant differences between novice teenaged drivers and experienced adult drivers. The results showed that teenaged drivers had much shorter glance durations away from the forward roadway and allocated a higher percentage of their glances to locations that were considered driving-related when compared to the experienced adult group. Results from the study also showed when one passenger was present in the vehicle teenaged drivers tended to have a higher percentage of time spent with their eyes off of the forward roadway. / Master of Science

Thesis advisor: William Stanwood / This research examines the history of gender representations in television programs designed for adolescents to discover how these portrayals have developed and changed over time in order to determine the perceived messages about stereotypical gender norms and roles for adolescents. These messages are important to decode as adolescent males and females can learn gender roles and behaviors from the teen programming that they watch on television. The study investigated the most popular teen television programs from each of the last three decades including Beverly Hills 90210, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville, One Tree Hill, Pretty Little Liars and Teen Wolf. The first part of the study completed was a textual analysis of the episodes. Secondly, a content analysis was performed on all of the examples from the episodes. The codes used for this study include Language, Sex Roles, Emotionality, and Traditional Roles. Although the majority of gender messages present were normative in that they reinforced gender roles and stereotypes, the findings also suggest that gender representations are becoming less normative as the genre continues to grow and develop. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Communication Honors Program. / Discipline: Communication.

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In 1927 Vladimir Propp published a book in which he defined the characteristics and morphology of fairytales. His work was a groundbreaking one that forced scholars to question the way in which stories and storytelling affect the fabric of society and its ideals. Since 1927 much has changed with regards to the way in which stories are told. Technology has changed the way in which people interact and communicate with each other. Media conglomerates such as Walt Disney, Time Warner Company and News Corporation are driven to create stories and media that will deliver consumers to their advertisers. This paper sought to examine the way in which the teen drama has redefined the fairytale, and to establish whether Propp’s work on the morphology of fairytales can still be seen as valid today. Following an in depth literature review that sought to establish the foundations of fairytales, narratives, Propp’s morphology, the development of television as well as the teen television drama, the findings of this paper were established through a detailed content analysis of the first season of three modern teen television dramas – The O.C., One Tree Hill and Gossip Girl. The research found that while some of Propp’s functions may have been adapted to take on a more modern role and a few others became defunct, the majority of the functions of the dramatis personae could be found almost unchanged within the teen television drama. Gossip Girl, in particular demonstrated that it was highly aware of its allusions to the fairytale analogy with numerous references throughout its first season to fairytales such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast. More than any of the other shows, Gossip Girl appeared deliberate in its references to the world of fairytales, a world in which the damsel in distress is always rescued by her knight in shining armour, and where monarchy reigns supreme. While humans have continued to evolve and the modes of storytelling have changed significantly since Propp first published his paper, the teen television drama has not yet redefined the characteristics of Propp’s morphology. At most it has modernised them making them relevant to the 21st century viewer.

Lately Athena has been spending all her spare time in her grave. Her parents—owners of a small-town cemetery in upstate New York—are proud of her devoutness, but her little sister, Laurel, can’t understand it. Laurel still has one more year before her grave-opening, before she’s expected to fulfill the Tenets of Grave Keeping by spending time in her grave as well, and she’s dreading it. Just as school begins, unexpected visitors derail the girls’ secluded lives, encroaching on the safe confines of home and forcing the sisters out into the town. Athena—a professional high school loner—grapples with a newfound enemy and, even more surprising, her first best friend. And home-schooled Laurel, shy to the point of paralysis, finds herself face-to-face with a runaway kid, hiding out in an abandoned grave.

The United States has the highest teen birth rate of any developed country in the world. In the period 2005-2010, the fertility rate for the United States was 41 births per 1,000 women ages 15-19, compared to 26 births in the United Kingdom, and 4 in Switzerland and The Netherlands. However, the teen birth rates in the United States vary considerably by race and ethnic group. National vital statistics data for 2009 report that the rate for Blacks is more than twice that of non-Hispanic Whites, and the rate for Latinas is almost three times as high. The difference within Latino groups is just as dramatic. The adolescent fertility rate per 1,000 for Cubans is 23.5, while for Puerto Ricans it is 61.67, and for Mexicans the rate is 78.7. Teen pregnancy and childbearing in the Mexican American population are issues of great concern because this ethnic group is the fastest growing population in the United States. The literature on teen childbearing among Latinos, and specifically among Mexican origin teens, tends to attribute the high rates to cultural differences. In this dissertation, I argue that the high rates of teen pregnancy cannot properly be attributed to "cultural" characteristics. Instead, I develop falsifiable hypotheses that are derived from theoretical frameworks which recognize the relationship between racial inequalities and teen fertility. I first test the social characteristics hypothesis to determine the effect that income and parents? education have on teen fertility. Second, I test if other characteristics such as religiosity, type of religion and views on teen pregnancy have an impact on predicting the odds of having a teen birth. Third, drawing on demographic literature, I ascertain whether educational experiences and aspirations to attend college are critical factors in predicting a teen birth. Last, I test if having a teen birth has the same impact for Mexican origin teens compared to Whites in terms of being able to obtain a college degree.