The gender difference in crime is indisputable. In an attempt to explain gender differences in adolescents' involvement in crime, secondary data analysis of middle and high school students and their neighborhoods will be examined. Feminists have identified the concept of patriarchy as the root of gender differences in all behavior and particularly in criminal behavior. Hagan's Power-Control Theory incorporates the concept of patriarchy through measures within home to examine how differences in occupational authority between parents affects the gender difference in delinquency through differential controls placed on sons and daughters. However, it has been suggested that the measure of patriarchy be extended into the public sphere (Walby, 1990). Specifically, this study compares a traditional private patriarchy model to a public patriarchy model in order to determine which approach better explains the gender gap in crime. Patterns of findings were not substantively different between private and public patriarchy models; however, a number of theoretical implications point to the fact that alternate measures of patriarchy could lend support for power-control theory that it currently lacks.

A large body of research, typically nationally focused, has examined the relationship between family structure, educational attainment, and healthcare access. Within this field of study, there is limited availability of regionally based studies, specifically the Lower Mississippi Delta (LMD) region. This exploratory study examines the effects of family structure on high school graduation rates and health insurance coverage within the LMD region. The objective is to determine if family structure has a direct impact on the educational attainment and health outcomes of a child within the region using concepts from nationally focused literature. Through the use of an OLS regression, we find that family structure does not have a strong impact on the educational attainment of children within the region. However, we did find that family structure had a strong impact on the health insurance coverage of youth within the region. Additionally, we examine the impact that spatial location and race has on these variables. These results can encourage the development of potential intervention programs, outreach initiatives, and other programs geared toward helping youth within the region. The study's conclusions provide insight on the impact of family structure on health and education thus encouraging further research within the LDM region.

Bakgrund: Skolfrånvaro är ett komplext område och som kan betraktas som ett folkhälsoproblem då det är en riskfaktor för framtida utanförskap. En ofullständig skolgång försvårar ett aktivt deltagande i arbets- och samhällsliv vilket ökar risken för framtida ohälsa. Riskfaktorer för hög skolfrånvaro finns på individ-, familj-, skol- och samhällsnivå. Dessa riskfaktorer interagerar med varandra och har en kumulativ effekt. Goda relationer inom och mellan dessa nivåer beskrivs som skyddsfaktorer för hög skolfrånvaro.Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hypotesen om att det fanns en skillnad mellan gruppen med skolfrånvaro och gruppen utan skolfrånvaro avseende familjestruktur, sociala relationer och delaktighet hos elever i Värmland.Metod: Metoden var en kvantitativ empirisk studie av elevdata i Elevhälsodatabasen ELSA. Sambandsanalyser mellan utfallsvariabeln skolfrånvaro och sociodemografi, sociala relationer och delaktighet analyserades med sambandstestet Chi2, Pearsons r på 95% nivån.Resultat: Resultaten visade att det fanns skillnader beträffande familjestruktur mellan elevgruppen med skolfrånvaro och gruppen utan skolfrånvaro. Elever med skolfrånvaro bor i betydligt mindre utsträckning i en sammanhållen familj med båda föräldrarna. Resultaten visade också på samband mellan sociala relationer och skolfrånvaro. Elever med skolfrånvaro trivdes i mindre omfattning bra hemma och hade färre vuxna att prata med jämfört med elever utan skolfrånvaro. De upplevde också lägre grad av trygghet, trivsel och vänligt bemötande i skolan och hade i större utsträckning blivit rädda då någon gjort dem illa. Äldre elever med skolfrånvaro upplevde mindre delaktighet och att bli lyssnad till i skolan än elever utan skolfrånvaro.Konklusion: I skolan behövs en ökad förståelse för att elever med hög skolfrånvaro är ”elever i svårigheter” istället för ”elever med svårigheter” där elevhälsans kompetens inom det psykosociala området kan användas på individ-, grupp- och organisationsnivå. / Background: School absence is a complex issue that can be considered as a public health problem as it is a risk factor for future exclusion. An incomplete schooling makes it harder for an active participation in working and social life, which in turn increases the risk of ill health. There are risk factors for high school absenteeism at the individual-, family-, school- and community level. These risk factors interact with each other and have a cumulative effect. Good relationships within and between these levels are protective factors for high school absenteeism.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the hypothesis that there was a difference between the group with school absenteeism and the group without school absenteeism in family structure, social relationships and participation among students in VärmlandMethod: The method was a quantitative empirical study of student-data in the student health database ELSA. Correlation analyzes between the school absenteeism and sociodemographics, social relationships and involvement were analyzed with a Chi2 test , Pearson's r on the 95 % level .Results : The results showed that there were differences in family structure between the group of students with school absenteeism compared to the group without school absenteeism. Students with school absenteeism lived to a significantly less extent in a cohesive family with both parents. The results also showed a correlation between social relationships and school absences. Students with school absenteeism felt less comfortable at home and had fewer adults to talk to compared to students without school absenteeism. They also experienced lower levels of security, comfort and friendly treatment in the school and had to a higher frequency become afraid when someone treated them badly. Older students with school absenteeism did not feel participation or that they were listened to in school at the same rate as students without school absenteeism.Conclusion: The school needs a better understanding that students with high absenteeism is "students in difficulty " and not "students with difficulties " where student health service competence in the psychosocial field may be used at individual, group and organizational levels.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / The first year of university studies is usually accompanied by many new experiences, often stressful, and family members fulfil a significant role in helping to reduce students' stress and facilitate their adjustment. Research has indicated that the overall first year experience sets the tone for the subsequent well-being of students both academically and personally, and if this is negative then the university dropout rates are likely to remain high. This study seeks to determine the effects of family structure and parental autonomy-support on students' adjustment during the first year of university. The study employed a quantitative, cross-sectional correlational research design. Participants were selected by means of convenient sampling, and only consisted of first year university students between the ages of 18 and 25 years who were registered at the University of the Western Cape. Data was collected via an online survey consisting of three self-reported questionnaires, namely the perceived parental autonomy-support scale, the college adaptation questionnaire, and also demographic information. Data was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Participants' right to privacy, confidentiality and anonymity was observed throughout the study. The results suggest that students from two-parent families are better adjusted than students from one-parent families. Furthermore, results of the total sample suggest a significant relationship between good adjustment and autonomy-supportive parenting, while a significant negative relationship exists between poor adjustment and autonomy-supportive parenting. When determining the separate results for two-parent families and one-parent families, it was established from the regression analysis that good adjustment was only predicted by mother autonomy-support in two-parent families, accounting for 7% of the variance. Poor adjustment in two-parent families was negatively predicted by mother and father autonomy-support, and was accounted for by 11% of variance. In one-parent families, neither good nor poor adjustment was predicted by parenting behaviours.

The present study is designed to address the problem of risk behaviors among adolescents, in an effort to promote positive developmental trajectories. Previous studies have resulted in divergent findings pertaining to the predictors of adolescent engagement in risk behaviors. In addition to considering this divergence, the focus of the study is the nature of bidirectional individual ó contextual relationships and their influence on adolescent engagement in risk behaviors. The study tested two models that considered whether parent-adolescent relationship or peer relationship mediated the relation between theory and research-based predictors and the endogenous variable, co-occurring substance use and sexual activity. Participants were 396 demographically diverse multi-problem adolescents from an archived dataset derived from an HIV risk reduction outpatient treatment program for alcohol and other drug use. Participants responded to questions that measured family structure, parent-adolescent relationship quality and communication, religiosity, school connectedness, peer relationship, and engagement in substance use and sexual activity. The study found that the model with peer relationship as the mediator fit the data better than the model with the parent-adolescent relationship mediator, and that the mediated model provided a better fit to the data than direct relations between the exogenous and endogenous variables. The results suggested also that primary caregiver was not a significant predictor of adolescent participation in co-occurring substance use and sexual activity. The present study provides a holistic theoretical and conceptual framework that highlights a constellation of factors determined to contribute significantly to co-occurring substance use and sexual activity, and thereby reshape existing models of risk behavior among adolescents.

Magister Artium - MA / Self Determination Theory (SDT) proposes that individuals are motivated to have goals and aspirations which are either intrinsic or extrinsic in nature. Intrinsic life goals are associated with greater psychological health and well-being. Research shows that family structure plays a role in the way children are raised and has implications for later adult adjustment. In South Africa 42.8% of children are raised in a single parent household. This study aimed to compare the goals and aspirations of learners from single and married parent households. The study used a quantitative methodology with a cross-sectional comparative research design. The sample consisted of 853 Grade 11 learners from schools in the Northern, Southern and Metro Central Education Districts in the Western Cape. The data was collected using a selfreport questionnaire that consisted of two sections, demographical information and the Aspirations Index. The Aspirations Index assessed the life goals of the learners and categorised the goals and aspirations into intrinsic and extrinsic life goals. The data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences V20 (SPSS). The results suggest that there was a significant main effect of family structure on certain goals and aspirations of Grade 11 learners in secondary schools. These goals and aspirations included wealth, image, personal growth, relationships and health. Furthermore, participants from single parent households placed more emphasis on intrinsic goals than participants from married parent.

This study examined the relationships between family structure (organization and control), family process (cohesion, expressiveness, and conflict) with parenting sense of competency (parenting efficacy) for mothers (n = 138) engaged in Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) related activities. Family structure in this study looked at how the family system is organized regarding clarity of family rules. In addition, family processes of the research participants looked at daily family routines and interactions. General parenting self-efficacy, task-specific self-efficacy for nurturance, and task-specific self-efficacy for teaching which are the dependent variables, looked at the degree to which parents feel competent and capable of solving problems related to these processes in the parent-child relationship. Research questions were answered using multivariate analysis of canonical correlational analysis (CCA) to examine the associations between the independent and dependent variables. Results showed significant relationship between family structure variables of control and organization and parents' self-report of their general efficacy and their task specific efficacy for teaching and nurturing. The study also showed an inverse relationship between process variable of conflict and overall self-efficacy of parents' and their task specific efficacy for teaching and nurturing.

We examined the relationships between family structure, gender and age and profiles of identity exploration and commitment in the ideological (occupation, values, politics, religion, gender roles) and interpersonal identity (dating, friendships, and family) domains among 388 young adults. The general profile revealed low exploration in both domains, with ideological exploration being the lower, compared to high and comparable levels of commitment in the two domains. Older participants explored more than younger ones, and females gave more attention to the interpersonal domain than did males. Participants from original families explored more in the interpersonal domain than in the ideological domain, but their commitment was the same for the two domains. Participants from non-original families explored in equal amounts in the two domains, but were more committed in the interpersonal domain compared to participants from original families. Participants from non-original families explored more in the ideological domain than did participants from original families. Our findings indicate that individuals from non-original families exhibit positive outcomes and strengths that are often overlooked in the literature.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(経済学) / 甲第21410号 / 経博第585号 / 京都大学大学院経済学研究科経済学専攻 / (主査)教授 黒澤 隆文, 教授 渡邊 純子, 講師 IVINGS Steven / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Economics / Kyoto University / DFAM

The purpose of this study is to estimate the association between sibling drug use and adolescent alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use. Research is conducted using survey data from a probability sample of 4,987 adolescents in grades 9–12 in Utah. To account for the limited frequency of drug use among respondents, Poisson regression is used to estimate models for each type of drug. In support of current literature, findings indicate that having a sibling who uses drugs increases the frequency of drug use substantially, even when peer influences are taken into account. Significant sibling associations with adolescent drug use found in this study support the assumptions of social learning theory. Findings suggest that sibling influence is largely due to social learning, as older sibling influences are demonstratively more significant than younger sibling influences.