This study explored Facebook™ to capture the prevalence of driving safety promotion user groups, obtain user demographic information, to understand if Facebook™ user groups influence reported driving behaviors, and to gather a sense of perceived effectiveness of Facebook™ for driving safety promotion targeted to young adults. In total, 96 driving safety Facebook™ groups (DSFGs) were identified with a total of 33,368 members, 168 administrators, 156 officers, 1,598 wall posts representing 12 countries. A total of 85 individuals participated in the survey. Demographic findings of this study suggest that driving safety promotion can be targeted to young and older adults. Respondents' ages ranged from 18 to 66 years. A total of 62% of respondents aged ≤24 years and 57.8% of respondents aged ≥25 years reported changing their driving-related behaviors as a result of reading information on the DSFGs to which they belonged. A higher proportion of respondents ≥25 years were significantly more likely to report Facebook™ and YouTube™ as an effective technology for driving safety promotion. This preliminary study indicates that DSFGs may be effective tools for driving safety promotion among young adults. More research is needed to understand the cognition of Facebook™ users as it relates to adopting safe driving behavior. The findings from this study present descriptive data to guide public health practitioners for future health promotion activities on Facebook™.

This study explored Facebook™ to capture the prevalence of driving safety promotion user groups, obtain user demographic information, to understand if Facebook™ user groups influence reported driving behaviors, and to gather a sense of perceived effectiveness of Facebook™ for driving safety promotion targeted to young adults. In total, 96 driving safety Facebook™ groups (DSFGs) were identified with a total of 33,368 members, 168 administrators, 156 officers, 1,598 wall posts representing 12 countries. A total of 85 individuals participated in the survey. Demographic findings of this study suggest that driving safety promotion can be targeted to young and older adults. Respondents' ages ranged from 18 to 66 years. A total of 62% of respondents aged ≤24 years and 57.8% of respondents aged ≥25 years reported changing their driving-related behaviors as a result of reading information on the DSFGs to which they belonged. A higher proportion of respondents ≥25 years were significantly more likely to report Facebook™ and YouTube™ as an effective technology for driving safety promotion. This preliminary study indicates that DSFGs may be effective tools for driving safety promotion among young adults. More research is needed to understand the cognition of Facebook™ users as it relates to adopting safe driving behavior. The findings from this study present descriptive data to guide public health practitioners for future health promotion activities on Facebook™.

Tamora Pierce’s work has been cited by many Young Adult fantasy authors as a major influence in recent years. Despite this, her work remains relatively obscure among librarians and readers of Young Adult literature. This paper examined one of Pierce’s Young Adult fantasy series, Protector of the Small, by comparing the series to existing works of Young Adult fantasy literature commonly accepted as classic or canonical literature. Among the comparative works were titles authored by J. R. R Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, J. K. Rowling, and Philip Pullman. Comparison was character-focused, with emphasis on the representation of parents, other sympathetic adults, peers, and family units. Some comparison was also focused on the representation of antagonists in the selected works. The aim of the comparative analysis was to serve as a guide for librarians, teachers, and readers of Young Adult literature to better understand potential target audiences for the Protector of the Small quartet. It was found that target audiences for the series would likely seek or benefit from the Protector of the Small quartet’s inclusion of supportive parental and mentor figures, strong familial bonds, and supportive and communicative peers. Target audiences would also seek literature with nuanced antagonists capable of character growth. Most prominently, target audiences would seek Young Adult fantasy literature that addresses real-world issues and challenges for young women, including sexism, puberty, and reproductive healthcare.

This thesis critiques the representations, and lacunas in representation, of teenage girls’ sexual desires in a selection of young adult (YA) novels written since the turn of the millenium, considering their contributions either to a necessary opening up of a cultural discourse of girls’ desire, or to the prevalent dangerous silencing of such a discourse. It takes as a point of departure the perspective that, to the extent that YA fiction engages with that which is sexy about sex, it is an ideal safe, private space for girls’ exploration of their sexual subjectivities. Through critical analysis informed by interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary perspectives, as well as by autoethnographic life writing, the research uncovers a marked tendency for YA fiction to construct girls’ desire as doubly wrong: girls are most commonly represented not only as the wrong gender for desire, but also as having individual particularities that are wrong for desire. Thus South African heroines are constructed as inhabiting the wrong country for desire, their desires inextricably linked to violence. Bisexual heroines are constructed as liking the wrong objects of desire, their desires desexualized, monosexualized, and submerged under essentialist stereotype. And conspicuous-breasted girls who experienced puberty early are constructed as possessing the wrong bodies for desire, representation of them among YA heroines largely an inhospitable absence. The research supports, however, the contention that spaces for the liberation of a genuine discourse of girls’ desire may be found in lesbian-focussed stories that hold themselves apart from the patriarchy of compulsory heterosexuality; and it finds that such spaces may also be carved out by heroines who interrogate their own desires in thoughtful, nuanced ways and, especially, by the exceptional few stories that engage with that which is sexy about sex, and thus open a discourse of desire through the direct evocation of desire itself. / Thesis (DLitt (English))--University of Pretoria, 2019. / English / DLitt (English) / Unrestricted

Thesis advisor: Susan Roberts / The young adult fiction classification features a number of novels that center on the experience of chronic illness in children. This thesis examines the subgenre known as “sick-lit” and its use of illness and gender as themes. Through this study, a repetitive narrative of a beautiful teenage girl falling ill becomes clear. When examined in context, this trope can be traced through several of the most popular “sick-lit” publications. This project is comprised of four chapters, each of which focuses on a specific work, series, or author: Little Women, The Baby-Sitters Club, Lurlene McDaniel, and The Fault in Our Stars. Fleet argues that the representation of these characters is a complex narrative that does not align with the lived experience of chronically ill girlhood while still containing a degree of truth. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: English.

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This dissertation is comprised of two studies that both aimed to understand the population of young adults who dropped out of college. Life course theory and the theory of emerging adulthood were used to create the theoretical foundation for the studies. The first study explored how students who dropped out of college were faring during young adulthood on multiple measures of well-being (personal income, job satisfaction, subjective socioeconomic success, mastery, happiness, depression, and stress). Five latent classes emerged from the data, which demonstrated the heterogeneity within the sample (N = 1,530). The second study then utilized the same sample to examine how transitions into adulthood predicted well-being during young adulthood while controlling for family of origin resources and developmental assets. The transitions to adulthood included timing of marriage, parenthood, and whether or not the young adult was living independently of their parents or not. The hypotheses based on theory were partially supported, with some differences existing between men and women. The discussion reviews the implications for practice and policy. / Ph. D.

Lead neurotoxicity is considered a problem in young children and the long-term effects of lead exposure on them have yet to be determined. Studies have been completed to determine how lead exposure has affected children through their most important developmental stages. However, there is a lack of research to uncover any long-term effects lead may have as children enter adulthood. The purpose of this study was to determine long-term effects of lead exposure on IQ. The theoretical foundation for this study is the Cattell Horn Carroll theory of intelligence, which is based on fluid (novel experiences) and crystallized (previous experiences) intelligence. This study focused on individuals who were exposed to lead as children and are now young adults (ages 18-25). These individuals were part of a class action lawsuit and referred to a clinical psychologist from a private clinic who conducted IQ testing. In this non-experimental quantitative study, a multiple regression analysis was conducted on secondary data. Independent variables were first and last blood lead and Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, and Respiration scores as indicated from medical records. The dependent variables were the perceptual reasoning index, and verbal comprehension index of the WAIS-IV administered by a licensed clinical psychologist. The results of this study showed that childhood lead toxicity did not predict IQ scores in young adulthood. More research needs to be completed so that governmental agencies will have more information to be proactive in creating and changing policies around the use of lead in products that people use daily. This could lead to positive social change by placing an emphasis on early identification and treatment of lead exposure.

This two-section thesis explores the subjective nature of villainy. The larger section, "Dream’s End," is an urban-fantasy young-adult fiction piece I’ve written in epistolary form. I preface the fiction with a critical introduction in which I briefly examine existing definitional scholarship on 1) epistolary fiction, 2) the urban fantasy genre, and 3) the young adult genre. Epistolary fiction may be letters, diaries, or journal entries. Following this exploration, I examine the subjective nature of villains and antagonists in narratives. While "Dream’s End" does not specifically discuss or critique feminist theory, it considers criticism of existing female tropes in its portrayal of both the characters and their roles in relation to one another. The second section of the thesis is comprised of a collection of journal entries, divided into six chapters, wherein protagonist Emma keeps a record of the experiences she has while traveling to another world in her dreams. In this alternate dream world, Emma finds community and purpose absent from her waking life, but must ultimately come to terms with a perceived betrayal and various moral quandaries when her two worlds begin to bleed together. The journal entries will eventually be incorporated into a novel as backstory, and so are presented with a brief explanation as to their significance to the larger narrative. Through the various characters in these journal entries, I explore the complex nature of protagonists and antagonists, and discuss how the classification of each is relative to the experience and perceptions of the characters within the narrative, as well as the readers outside it.

"Sometimes I Think I’m Going Crazy" is a short story collection containing three stories of more or less equal length. Each of three main characters face conflict that tests their resolve and ultimately forces them to reevaluate who they are as human beings. Stress helps people to grow and evolve and the protagonists in these stories are forced to face their greatest fears head on and (with varying degrees of success) come out the other end better for it. But not before going a little crazy in the process.