Master of Science / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Anthony Jurich / An exploration of parents’ critical role in their children’s career choices and aspirations was the primary focus of this paper. This includes a brief history of past career counseling techniques, which began in its formative years by assessing the client’s personality to determine proper occupational fit. It has now progressed to the postmodernist view that bases vocational interest and aspirations on constantly changing life roles. Previous research that examined parental influence on adolescent’s career choices, as well as research on the effects of socioeconomic status, gender, and race was included. The paper concluded with how career counselors and parents may use the strength of parental influence upon young adults to provide more effective career development techniques and create stronger partnerships with the young adult’s primary stakeholders.

Grade retention is an educational practice that requires students to repeat the grade level they have just completed (Jimerson, 2001). In the United States, an estimated 15% to 19% of students are retained each year (Holmes, 2006). Previous research on grade retention is comprised of quantitative studies describing students who have been retained as having higher suspension rates, coming from a low socio-economic status, and having an increased chance of dropping out of school (Christle, Jolivette, & Nelson, 2007; Janosz, et al., 1997; Jimerson & Ferguson, 2007; Jimerson et al., 2002; Suh & Suh 2007). While these studies provide a wealth of information about grade retention, they do not describe how adolescents reacted when they were retained and how they experienced retention in their lives. In this qualitative study, eight students and one of their parents were interviewed about their experiences and reactions with retention. The dominant themes identified from student and parent interviews suggest that adolescent students and their parents believed that adolescent students reacted negatively to retention, experienced changes in their lives, experienced a loss of self-esteem, felt left behind by peers, felt older than peers, felt that retention added another year of school to their education, and that adolescent students’ school performance improved following retention. Implications for school counselors are provided.

A Orientação Profissional e de Carreira tem sido objeto de estudo desde o início do século passado, constituindo um domínio do conhecimento teórico e prático de relevante interesse por parte de pesquisadores e profissionais do campo da Psicologia Vocacional em diferentes cenários e contextos. No entanto, no que se refere ao contexto moçambicano, poucos estudos mostraram interesse em promover serviçossistematizados que visemajudar os adolescentes a refletir sobre a complexidade do processo da escolha e sua natureza multideterminada. Constatada esta lacuna, este estudo objetivou delinear, implementar e avaliar uma intervenção em Orientação Profissional e de Carreira para adolescentes, alunos do ensino secundário público moçambicano. Para concretizar os objetivos almejados foi delineado um estudo do tipo pesquisa-ação. Apoiando-se numa abordagem prevalentemente qualitativa, primeiro buscou-se indagar as condições pessoais, familiares e contextuais que influenciam no processo da escolha e em seguida avaliar a intervenção a partir da ótica dos participantes. A intervenção iniciou com um grupo de adolescentes (N=30), estudantes do ensino secundário (1º e 2º ciclos) público moçambicano, na cidade de Nampula, matriculados entre a 8ª e 12ª classe, com idades compreendidas entre 14-18 anos, de ambos sexos. Entre eles desistiram de participar da intervenção sete (7), sendo que a amostra final foi de 23 participantes, e participaram da avaliação pós-intervenção 18 estudantes. A coleta de dados decorreu ao longo de doze sessões e última avaliação seis meses após a intervenção. A coleta de dados baseou-se emtécnicas de cunho qualitativo (narrativas), a saber: \"Carta aos pais\", Redação sobre a escolha profissional e de carreira, \"Carta ao Presidente da República\", \"Carta ao Orientador Hipotético\" e uma atividade baseada em um Roteiro de questões abertas que foram respondidas em quatro momentos diferentes ao longo da intervenção. A análise e discussão dos dados se apoiou na abordagem qualitativa e se subsidiou da análise temática de conteúdo, proposta por Minayo e nos aportes da perspectiva desenvolvimentista e construtivista de teorias de carreira. Os resultados corroboraram na complexidade dos fatores que multideterminam a escolha profissional e de carreira, sendo que família, particularmente marcada com o exercício de autoridade vinculada ao modelo cultural, no qual é reservado aos pais uma posição particular de \"decisão\", exerce ainda uma contínua e incontornável influência nas aspirações e escolhas profissionais dos adolescentes. O diálogo, o apoio moral, e instrumental atuam como mediadores desta influência.A avaliação da intervenção, de um lado, contribuiu para preencher a lacuna da insipiência de intervenções sistematizadas que se propõem a avaliar serviços ou programas no âmbito da intervenção em orientação profissional e de carreira, incluindo a perspectiva dos usurários. Sobre a avaliação levada adiante neste estudo há que destacar primeiro que os relatos dos participantes concluintes convergem na apreciação positiva tanto dos procedimentos quanto dos resultados do processo. Os participantes que avaliaram o processoconfirmaram a hipótese da urgência, necessidade e pertinência de serviços nesta área, tendo sugerido a continuidade, expansão e manutenção do serviço, em particular para o contexto escolar moçambicano. As opiniões emitidas pelos \"avaliadores\" (estudantes) da intervenção convergem na ideia de que futuras intervenções devem focalizar a abordagem de Educação para a Carreira a ser desenvolvida ao longo da vida escolar. Outro resultado significado do estudo aponta para uma temática muito debatida na área, trata-se da importância da formação dos orientadores profissionais, com foco nas competências teórico-práticase relacionais. O foco na abordagem qualitativa ajudou a explicitar a natureza subjetiva da carreira, a interrelação entre os fatores pessoais e contextuais, reforçando a importância de ajudar as novas gerações a desenvolver atitudes mais ativas no processo de construção das suas identidades pessoais e ocupacionais de modo a se adaptar mais adequadamente às atuais e contínuas mudanças que ocorrem em diferentes âmbitos da vida humana, em particular no mundo do trabalho. As considerações conclusivas apontam asimplicações para a prática e algumas linhas que podem servir de ponto de partida para refletir sobre possibilidades de intervenção com particular atenção ao domínio da realidade moçambicana. Limitações do estudo são assumidas com vista a aprimorar futuras intervenções. / The vocational guidance and career has been studied since the beginning of last century, constituting a domain of theoretical and practical knowledge of relevant interest by researchers and Vocational Psychology field professionals in different settings and contexts. However, with regard to the Mozambican context, few studies have shown an interest in promoting systematic services aimed at helping teens to reflect on the complexity of the process of choice and its multifactorial nature. Found this gap, this study aimed to design, implement and evaluate an intervention in Career Guidance for mozambican public secondary school students. To achieve the desired goals was outlined a kind of action research study. Relying on a prevalently qualitative approach, first sought to investigate the personal, family and contextual influencing the process of choice, and then evaluate the intervention from the perspective of the participants. The intervention began with a group of 30 adolescents (N = 30), high school students (1st and 2nd cycles) mozambican public in the city of Nampula, enrolled between the 8th and 12th grade, aged 14-18 years, of both sexes. Among them gave up to participate in the intervention seven (7), and the final sample consisted of 23 participants, and participated in the post-intervention assessment 18 students. Data collection took place over twelve sessions and final evaluation six months after the intervention. Data collection was based on qualitative approach techniques (narratives), namely: \"Letter to Parents\" Writing about the career choice and career, \"Letter to the President\", \"Letter to the Hypothetical Guinding\" and an activity based on a open questions roadmap which were answered at four different times during the intervention. Analysis and discussion of the data was based on a qualitative approach and subsidized the thematic content analysis proposed by Minayo and contributions from the developmental perspective and constructivist theories of career. The results confirm the complexity of the factors that multidetermin career choice and career, and that family, particularly marked with the exercise of authority linked to the cultural model, in which it is reserved for parents a particular position of \"decision\", still exerts a continuous and inescapable influence on the aspirations and career choices of adolescents. The dialogue, moral support, and instrumental act as mediators of this influence. The evaluation of the intervention on the one hand, contributed to fill the gap of the foolishness of systematic interventions that purport to assess services or programs of intervention in vocational guidance and career, including the prospect of usurers. On the evaluation carried on in this study must be first noted that the reports of the graduating participants converge on the positive assessment of both the procedures and the outcomes of the process. Participants reviewed the confirmed case of urgency, necessity and relevance of services in this area and suggested the continuity, expansion and maintenance of the service, in particular for the mozambican school context. Opinions expressed by \"evaluators\" (students) intervention converge on the idea that future interventions should focus on Career Education being developed throughout school life. Another significance of the study results point to a much debated topic in the area, it is the importance of training professionals guiding, focusing on theoretical and practical and relational skills.The focus on qualitative approach helped explain the subjective nature of the career, the interrelationship between personal and contextual factors, reinforcing the importance of helping new generations to develop more active attitude sin the construction of their personal and occupational identities in order to adapt better to the current and continuous changes that occur in different areas of human life, particularly in the workplace.The conclusive considerations point the implications for practice and some lines that can serve as a starting point to reflect on possibilities of intervention with particular attention to the area of the Mozambican reality. Study limitations are taken in order to improve future interventions.

The current study aimed to simultaneously examine cognitive, social and personality development in a cross-sectional sample of 3rd, 4th and 5th grade children to explore the interplay among these processes and how they relate to changes in children's understanding of alcohol. To replicate previous work, this study comprehensively examined relative increases in types of expectancies as a function of development. Results demonstrated that children in higher grades held more positive, negative and sedating expectancies of alcohol and positive alcohol expectancies increased more than negative alcohol expectancies. Improved performance on cognitive measures were associated with positive alcohol expectancy endorsement, indicating that children's ability to incorporate positive beliefs about alcohol, which are conflicting with information typically taught to children in this age range, may be related to their ability to form and articulate concepts with age. Among male participants, sensation seeking increased with age and was strongly associated with positive ideas about alcohol use, such as wanting to experiment with alcohol or planning to drink as an adult. Social influences on alcohol expectancies included exposure to drinking. When children's parents drank more, they had higher positive, negative and sedating alcohol expectancies, indicating that they had a greater understanding of all potential consequences of drinking, while children whose friends drank had higher positive but not other types of expectancies. Additionally, children who turned to adults for advice held increasing levels of negative and sedating alcohol expectancies across age, while children who sought support from their peers showed higher levels of positive and arousing expectancies across age groups. The interplay between cognitive development and risk factors such as social awareness of alcohol, source of social influence, and sensation seeking personality begins to demonstrate key relationships to alcohol expectancies in late childhood. These social and personality risk factors are likely to play an even greater role in early adolescence as children move to middle school and experience puberty. This study provides a basis for future elaboration of the roles these constructs play in an individual's ability to understand the multifaceted expectations that are held in our society about the effects of alcohol on human behavior.

<p>South Africa is overwhelmed by the increase of substance abuse among adolescents. Having consulted the literature, South Africa is not the only country faced with this problem. It raises concerns with regard to the social health of adolescents in this country. In order to develop effective intervention strategies to reduce the wide spread abuse of substances, it is important to first understand how adolescents perceive this problem. In this study the perceptions of boys will be explored with regard, to substance abuse among adolescents. A purposive sampling method was used to select the participants. The eleven participants were interviewed by means of a semi structured interview / an interview guide was applied to collect the relevant information. The goal of the study was to explore the perceptions of boys regarding substance abuse amongst adolescents. After data collection which was indicated by the saturation of the data, the recorded data was transcribed. Transcripts were analysed to determine the emerging themes from the collected data. The main findings of the study were interpreted and discussed according to the themes and sub themes, which were derived from the participants&rsquo / narratives. Based on the research findings, recommendations have been suggested for service providers with regard to substance abuse amongst adolescents.</p>

This study examines factors that influence the language use of preschool children in a child/parent education program. The Preschool for Child/Parent Education Project was initiated to address concerns for at risk children and their families in the community of Nipawin, Saskatchewan. The families invited to participate in the program were identified as having preschool children who were potentially at risk for school success.<p> The language experiences of four preschool children were observed as they participated in one nine-week child/parent education session. The parents, caregivers and preschool teacher were interviewed regarding their views about the language experiences of the children.<p> The factors that emerged as having an influence on the children's use of language in the preschool program were: play center activities, direct instruction, authentic experiences, parent/caregiver involvement and teacher efficacy. Results showed that the children in the Preschool for Child/Parent Education Project experienced a program that understood the language needs of young children and the powerful influence of a supportive family.<p> Implications are drawn concerning the benefits of providing opportunities for language development and use during the crucial preschool years in a child/parent education program. Recommendations for further research suggest recognition of the effects of early language intervention on young children with difficult life circumstances.

This study examines factors that influence the language use of preschool children in a child/parent education program. The Preschool for Child/Parent Education Project was initiated to address concerns for at risk children and their families in the community of Nipawin, Saskatchewan. The families invited to participate in the program were identified as having preschool children who were potentially at risk for school success.<p> The language experiences of four preschool children were observed as they participated in one nine-week child/parent education session. The parents, caregivers and preschool teacher were interviewed regarding their views about the language experiences of the children.<p> The factors that emerged as having an influence on the children's use of language in the preschool program were: play center activities, direct instruction, authentic experiences, parent/caregiver involvement and teacher efficacy. Results showed that the children in the Preschool for Child/Parent Education Project experienced a program that understood the language needs of young children and the powerful influence of a supportive family.<p> Implications are drawn concerning the benefits of providing opportunities for language development and use during the crucial preschool years in a child/parent education program. Recommendations for further research suggest recognition of the effects of early language intervention on young children with difficult life circumstances.

Knowledge has long been acknowledged to be crucial for economic growth and in today’s market economies this is true to an even greater extent. In the past it used to be the parent’s duty to pass on this knowledge to their children, nowadays schools and higher education institutions take this responsibility. Nevertheless, parents still have a significant influence on an individual’s educational attainment. The aim of this study is to investigate and demonstrate this parental influence on the level of education as well as the subject of higher education degree. This thesis shows that individuals whose parents have at least a bachelor’s degree and above are more likely to attain one themselves. Moreover, individuals are more likely to choose a subject for that degree that is similar to their parents’ occupation.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether parents of children who attend childcare centers have different attitudes and behaviors toward shaping their child's eating habits than parents of children who stay at home, and whether these attitudes and behaviors affect their child's dietary intake and weight. Fifty parents of 3- to 5-year-old children who attended childcare centers and fifty parents of 3- to 5-year-old children who stayed at home in Central Texas participated in the study. Parents completed questionnaires designed to measure the factors they considered when choosing food for their child, and their perceived influence on, satisfaction with, responsibility for, and control over their child's eating habits. After receiving training and measuring utensils, parents completed 3-day dietary records for their child. A researcher recorded the children's food intake when they were at the childcare center. Children's height and weight were measured, and body mass index was plotted on the CDC BMIfor- age growth charts (2000). Twelve percent of childcare children were obese compared to 2 percent of stay-at-home children (p<0.05). Children in childcare consumed more energy, vegetables, fat, saturated fat, and sweetened beverages than stay-at-home children (p<0.05), mostly due to consumption at the center. Both groups met requirements for all food groups and nutrients except grains, vegetables, and vitamin E. Their diets were too high in fat, contributing 32 percent of total energy. There was no evidence that parents of children in childcare felt less responsible for, less influential on, more satisfied with, or exerted less control over their child's diet than stay-at-home parents. Parents of childcare children believed that they and the childcare center shared responsibility for their child's nutrition. They felt that time was a more important factor in choosing food for their child than did stay-at-home parents. Parents who perceived lack of time to be an obstacle had children who consumed less energy, iron, and fat during the evening hours. Parents of overweight children felt more influential on and were more satisfied with their child's diets than parents of normal weight children. No other parental attitudes were predictive of children's food intake or weight status. / text

Parental input and participation on curricular decisions influence the educational process in private schools. Parental participation in the development and continual examination of the curriculum is essential to maintaining an educational environment that reflects the ideals and goals of all of the stakeholders. However, parents often have differing ideas from schools on what the curriculum should encompass. The problem facing private school leaders is how to negotiate the tensions resulting from conflicting parental expectations for the curriculum of the school. Literature is reviewed surrounding the main research question for this study: how do school leaders respond to the differences in expectations for curriculum between parents and private secondary schools? Areas of the literature reviewed include the purpose of education, the curriculum development process in schools and the role of educational leadership in the curriculum development process. The overall research design of this study is framed by a qualitative methodology that includes a multiple-site case study that aims to create a better understanding of the dynamics of parental influences on curriculum in private schools. Data from the Upper Schools of three private schools in a metropolitan area were collected over the period of one academic semester from a variety of sources, including interviews, observations and document analysis. The emerging themes were constructed around the current and past knowledge of informants within the context of the social interactions of the stakeholders in the three schools. Several significant findings resulted from this study, which provides a framework to understand how school leaders negotiate parental curriculum expectations. These findings include parental influence and expectations, the distinction between leadership with the curriculum versus the co-curriculum, and the factors influencing the negotiation of curriculum conflict. This inquiry is important because it creates a dialogue among the stakeholders who influence curriculum in private schools. The results of this study help school leaders understand the influences of parents on the curriculum of their schools and offer practical suggestions for private school leaders on how to negotiate the differences in expectations for curriculum between parents and private secondary schools.