The under-representation of women in higher hierarchical positions and company boards today is a fact that affects not only the women striving for these positions but also the companies that face a loss of competent personnel in their companies. We found it interesting to find out whether or not women are striving for leading positions, in the first place and what factors motivate and discourage them to strive for a career and what incentives companies could offer to increase their motivation. We adopt a company perspective in this thesis since we want to study this matter for the benefit of companies. If they knew more about what women want, they would be able to emphasize these conditions and motivate more women to strive for a career. Motivation theories as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Herzberg’s two-factor theory are used to give us a basic understanding of motivation and they also function as a foundation for our survey. Consequently, we follow a deductive approach. This study is focusing on Swedish female business students and a survey among the female students of the USBE has been carried out to generate emprical data. We defined career in this thesis as: “striving for high hierarchical positions with high responsibility and decisive power”. The majority of respondents stated to be striving for a career but not everyone was striving according to our definition. We found almost half of the respondents to be to some extent striving for a career according to our definition and 42 percent agreed to completely strive for a career. The most important motivating factors were found to be “to have a stimulating job” and “to be financially independent”. The strongest factors that have a negative influence on the respondents’ career motivation were “to have little time for family” and “to have a low salary in relation to work effort”. Furthermore, “equal salary for both men and woman”, “professional training” and “good promotion possibilities” were ranked the highest of the alternatives for incentives that companies could offer. As the data suggested that the vast majority of our respondents can be encouraged in their career striving, companies should consider offering incentives and improving the general job conditions. The most promising strategies are adjusting the women’s salaries to those of their male colleagues, providing full-time day care near the workplace and offering professional training. The Swedish government could contribute in this field by enforcing the law that requires equal salries for both sexes, by stronger controlls and more severe punishments. Suggestions for further research are, for instance, to study what companies actually do today to motivate women in their career striving.

The goal of the study was to understand the nature of the relationship among self construal, family functioning and sibling number in terms of gender. Five hundred twenthy-nine high school students participated in the study. Participants were selected from seven general public high schools in Ankara. Data was gathered via Personal Information Questionnaire, Autonomous-Related Self in the Family Scale (Kagit&ccedil / ibagi, 2007a) and Family Assessment Device (Epstein, Balwin &amp / Bishop 1983). Results of the study indicated that, for both genders, relational selfconstruals had significant correlations with healthy family functioning. It was also evidenced that autonomous self-construal scores of males were significantly higher than females and related self construal scores of females were significantly higher than males. Furthermore the family functioning dimensions that families tend to be v healthy or unhealthy were displayed. All findings were dicussed in line with the relevant literature.

Viewing peer relations as markers of children’s adjustment, the present thesis examined the associations between disruptive behavior problems (i.e., symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder [ADHD] and aggression) and peer relations. A second aim was to examine how children’s cognitive functioning and view of self and of their social standing are associated with their peer relations and interactions. Gender differences in the above relations were also examined. The findings indicate that although disruptive behaviors are related to poor peer relations, low levels of prosociality (Study I) and poor cognitive functioning (i.e., poor executive functioning; Study II) exacerbate children’s peer problems. Further, overly positive perceptions of one’s social acceptance and low global self-evaluations were both related to aggression within the peer group (Study III). As regards gender differences, high levels of symptoms of ADHD and poor executive functioning, had graver consequences for the peer acceptance of girls’ than of boys’ (Study I and Study II) indicating that these characteristics may not fit the cultural stereotype for girls. Results are discussed in terms of viewing poor peer relations as indicators of problematic adjustment, and also, in terms of assessing the particular significance that peer relations have for children’s self-view and behavior within the peer group. Implications of the findings as regards the interactions between behavior, cognitions, and gender on children’s peer relations are also discussed.

The purpose of this essay is, using discourse analysis, to define how the Swedish society sees sexuality and how this is conveyed to young people. The questions at issue are; How is the term sexuality defined and delimited? How are the young people described in relation to sexuality? Are young people ascribed to different needs and qualities in relation to sexuality depending on their gender? There is previously a lot of research with great multitude about the sexuality of the youth. The research methods vary but text analysis within the subject area is unusual. The material used in this discourse analysis have been published by normative public institutions. The text material have been worked up with discourse analysis as a tool to show the picture conveyed by the discourse about sexuality in relation to the youth. To get a second perspective on the analysis gender theory has been used, as well as comparisons with earlier research. The results of the study show that sexuality is a disputed and ambiguous conception. Information also has a central part regarding young people and sexuality and the way that it is necessary for young people differs depending on gender.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka om det fanns skillnader i hur ungdomar mellan 16-18 år i storstäder, städer och landsbygd uppfattade sitt psykiska välbefinnande samt se om resultatet gällde för båda könen. Datamaterialet till studien samlades in av Statistiska Centralbyrån under åren 2000-2003.

Studien bygger på en sammanställning av tidigare insamlad och ej bearbetad data. Syftet med studien var att jämföra om det fanns några skillnader kring känslor hos mödrar och fäder till barn med Downs syndrom (DS). 80 mödrar respektive 79 fäder deltog i studien. De fick svara på en enkät gällande känslor under en tidsperiod på tre månader tillbaka. Barnens medelålder var 4,7 år då föräldrarna besvarade enkäten. Enkäten som användes i föreliggande studie bestod av 21 stycken känslouttryck som skulle skattas på en Visuell Analog Skala (VAS) från 0-10. Resultatet visade att mödrar och fäder till barn med DS skattade ”glad” högst och ”förkrossad” lägst. ”Glad”, ”arg” och ”ledsen” var signifikant högre hos mödrarna jämfört med hos fäderna. Fäderna skattade ”bitter/dyster” signifikant högre än mödrarna. För övrigt fanns inga signifikanta skillnader mellan föräldrarna. Totalt skattade mödrar och fäder de positiva känslouttrycken högre än de negativa. Resultatet i studien tyder på att mödrar och fäder till barn med DS inte är i behov av könsanpassad utan istället individanpassad stöttning och vägledning. / This study is based on a compilation of previously collected and unprocessed data. The purpose of the study was to compare whether there were any differences between the feelings of mothers and fathers of children with Down syndrome (DS). 80 mothers and 79 fathers participated in the study. The children´s average age was 4,7 years when the parents answered the questionnaire. They were responding to a questionnaire concerning feelings over a period of three months. The survey that was used in the study consisted of 21 emotional expressions that would be estimated on a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) of 0-10. The results showed that both mothers and fathers of children with DS estimated "happy" highest and "devastated" lowest. "Happy", "angry" and "sorry" was significantly higher in mothers compared to fathers. Fathers estimated "bitter / gloomy" significantly higher than the mothers. Moreover, there were no significant differences between the parents. Both mothers and fathers estimated the positive emotional expressions higher than the negative. The results of the study interpret that mothers and fathers of children with DS are not in need of gender-adapted but personalized support and guidance.

The statistics has shown that men and women have different investing strategies, where men tend to choose riskier investments and women lean towards less risky investments. The financial theory states that individuals are risk averse in general, and some prior studies have shown that women are more so than men. Moreover, financial knowledge and experience have been pointed out to be one of the factors affecting one’s financial risk tolerance. This paper researches these issues by addressing the following to questions: Are there any gender differences in Financial Risk Tolerance? Does knowledge and experience have impact on Financial Risk Tolerance? A literature search has been done and relevant theory has been gathered and review, which served as a base and a framework for conducting this study. A quantitative methodological study has been carried out by handing out questionnaires, based on a 13-item Financial Risk Tolerance scale developed by Grabble & Lytton (1999). The target population was the Umeå University students. The size of the sample was 139. The findings of this paper confirm prior studies which state that women, in general, are less risk tolerant then men – female students scored lower on the Financial Risk Tolerance Score than male students. Furthermore, this study also shows that one’s Financial Risk Tolerance is affected by experience and knowledge in the field of finance – students that are studying economics had higher Financial Risk Tolerance score than students that were studying other subjects.

This study examined the self-efficacy for learning beliefs of male and female youth with ADHD, and explored whether symptoms of inattention predict self-efficacy beliefs beyond internalizing symptoms and academic achievement. Thirty-one youth with ADHD (18 males, 13 females) and 31 youth without ADHD (17 males, 14 females) between the ages of 13 and 18 completed self-report questionnaires examining self-efficacy for learning, ADHD symptomatology, academic achievement, and internalizing problems. Results indicated that female youth with ADHD felt less confident in their ability to regulate their learning effectively. In addition, regression analyses with the full sample revealed that inattention predicted self-efficacy for learning beliefs beyond internalizing difficulties and academic achievement. These results suggest that youth reporting high levels of inattention may also have lower perceptions of their ability to accomplish many academic tasks that require self-regulation.

This study examined the self-efficacy for learning beliefs of male and female youth with ADHD, and explored whether symptoms of inattention predict self-efficacy beliefs beyond internalizing symptoms and academic achievement. Thirty-one youth with ADHD (18 males, 13 females) and 31 youth without ADHD (17 males, 14 females) between the ages of 13 and 18 completed self-report questionnaires examining self-efficacy for learning, ADHD symptomatology, academic achievement, and internalizing problems. Results indicated that female youth with ADHD felt less confident in their ability to regulate their learning effectively. In addition, regression analyses with the full sample revealed that inattention predicted self-efficacy for learning beliefs beyond internalizing difficulties and academic achievement. These results suggest that youth reporting high levels of inattention may also have lower perceptions of their ability to accomplish many academic tasks that require self-regulation.

Depression is one of the most commonly-diagnosed disorders in college counseling centers (Adams, Wharton, Quilter, & Hirsch, 2008), so effective diagnosis and treatment are paramount to providing adequate care to college students. Treatment direction may depend on gender, however. Not only do males and females experience depression at different rates (Kessler et al., 2003), but there also is some evidence that factors predict depression differently by gender (Tamres, Janicki, & Helgeson, 2002). Specifically, the literature suggests that the choice of coping strategies may be gender-related; that perceived control is higher in males, yet more important to females; that social connectedness in particular may be valued more strongly and used more frequently as a coping style by females than males; and that coping resources seem to mitigate the harmful effects of stressful events. Consequently, it seems important to examine the relationships of coping resources, coping styles, mastery, and social support to the experiences of depression. The purpose of this study was to gain a clearer understanding of the predictors of depression and methods for coping with depression in college students and to determine how these differ by gender. Results demonstrated gender differences in the experiences of many variables studied as well as the prediction of depression. High levels of perceived stress factored in as an important predictor of depression for both genders. Prediction models of best fit for females also included low mastery and low social support, while few coping resources along with high perceived stress appeared to be the most important factors in depression prediction for males. Mastery was also found to moderate the relationship between social support and depression for males. Results have implications for increasing college students’ abilities to cope with depression, thus reducing the negative academic, psychological, and physiological effects of depression.