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Purpose The role of increased schooling on teenage childbirth has been expansively studied especially in developed countries. However, caveats remain in the case of low-income countries especially Sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the impact of increased schooling on the probability of first childbirth at 15 years or younger, 16-17, 18-19, and 20 years or older, in the important context of Uganda – a country with one of the highest adolescent fertility rates in Africa.Design/methodology/approach The empirical analysis uses recent data from the nationally representative Demographic and Health Survey for Uganda conducted in 2011. The authors then adopt a fuzzy regression discontinuity design, estimated using instrumental variables techniques that exploit the exogenous change in schooling impelled by the universal primary education policy enacted in 1997 in Uganda. The empirical approach compares the fertility outcomes for women born in 1984-1992 (i.e. exposed to the policy) to those born in 1973-1981 (i.e. non-exposed).Findings The authors find that a one-year increase in schooling lowers the probability of first childbirth at age the age of 15 years or younger, 16-17, 18-19, and 20 years or older by nearly 8.2, 9.2, 9.4, and 9.5 percentage points, respectively. Also, pathways through which education impacts teenage motherhood included information access through the media, increased literacy, prenatal care utilization, marital status, and unhealthy sexual behavior.Originality/value The paper uses nationally representative survey data to scrutinize the causal influence of schooling on the probability of first childbirth using the 1997 universal primary education in Uganda as a natural experiment to identify the impact of schooling. The study recommends that expanding primary schooling opportunities for girls may be an effective strategy toward accelerated reductions in teenage fertility in Uganda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the impact of short-term migratory movements by parents on the educational outcomes of teenagers in a region of Poland. Using survey and administrative data for lower secondary pupils, the empirical approach exploits variation in emigration within families over time. Estimates suggest that parental employment abroad has small, positive or no impact on pupils' grades, depending on circumstances surrounding the migration experience. Parental education, family situation, the economic environment and duration of the migratory spell are pivotal to outcomes. No negative effects are found, which contradicts the general public opinion in Poland that migration is detrimental to children's education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the causal effect of teenage childbearing on educational attainment using two cohorts of Australian twins and their relatives. Our main finding is that the negative effect of teenage childbearing on educational attainment appears to be small. We find no difference in educational attainment between teen mothers and their identical twin sisters. Data on the relatives of the twins enable us to compare a teen mother with both her twin sister and her other sibling sisters. When twin sisters are used as a control group instead of sibling sisters, the estimated difference in educational attainment is much smaller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of whether giving birth as a teenager has negative economic consequences for the mother remains controversial despite substantial research. In this paper, we build upon existing literature, especially the literature that uses the experience of teenagers who had a miscarriage as the appropriate comparison group. We show that miscarriages are not random events, but rather are likely correlated with (unobserved) community-level factors, casting some doubt on previous findings. Including community-level fixed effects in our specifications lead to important changes in our estimates. By making use of information on the timing of miscarriages as well as birth control choices preceding the teenage pregnancies we construct more relevant control groups for teenage mothers. We find evidence that teenage childbearing likely reduces the probability of receiving a high school diploma by 5 to 10 percentage points, reduces annual income as a young adult by $1,000 to $2,400, and may increase the probability of receiving cash assistance and decrease years of schooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper asks whether employment during high school impacts youths' grade point average. Unlike much of the prior literature, it allows for the endogeneity of the hours and dropout decisions, uses ASVAB test scores, and tests whether youth employment is dynamic. The results indicate that high school employment and its lag have small, negative impacts on academic grade point average for both males and females. The hours effects diminish when a fixed person effect is included, and they become statistically insignificant when hours are instrumented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on a consultative paper submitted by the British government on the education and training needs of the 16-18 year old age group to local authorities, teacher associations and employer and trade union organizations. Issues on which debate is needed.

Discusses changes in the educational policy for 14-19 year-old students which began in 1980 in Great Britain. Description of the 14-19 education and training system; Organization and funding structure; Stages of development of a national 14-19 education system; Establishment of a national qualifications framework; Expectations and planning for the 14-19 phase education.

This paper presents a time series analysis of the socio-economic factors influencing the propensity of 16-year-olds to stay on in full-time education in England and Wales. The econometric methodology employed relies on co-integration and 'general to specific' techniques. The results suggest that the main factors influencing staying on are the rate of return to education, changing social class structure, unemployment rates and the introduction of special employment and training measures such as the Youth Training Scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the barriers in youth literacy with qualitative interviews with 22 young people and 22 youth service providers from Prince Edward Island, Canada. It then compares these perspectives with a review of literatures on youth literacy. The paper outlines a sociological framework for the study of youth literacy that makes visible the complex cultural nests of youth within which becoming literate is negotiated. Rather than relying solely on individual literacy scores as the only measure of if and to what level young people are literate in contemporary society, the study addressed how barriers are encountered and negotiated. The findings show that barriers exist in multiple contexts in school, community and family and that they are not easily interpreted or predictable. Even high school completion does not guarantee literacy for some youth and both service providers and young people provide similar and disparate perspectives on barriers and possibilities for better support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teenage peers are perceived as being important, but there is little conclusive evidence demonstrating this. This paper uses data on the population of Norway and idiosyncratic variation in cohort composition within schools to examine the role of peer composition in ninth grade on longer-run outcomes such as IQ scores, teenage childbearing, education, and labor market outcomes. We find that outcomes are influenced by the proportion of females in the grade, and these effects differ by gender. Average age and average mother's education of peers have little impact on teenagers but average father's earnings of peers matters for boys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines identity-related interaction in a group of teenagers at an international school in Japan, focusing particularly on the discursive accomplishment of multiethnic identity among so-called half-Japanese (or "haafu") people. The study employs Conversation Analysis (CA) and Membership Categorization Analysis (MCA) to document three instances of mundane talk in which such multiethnic Japanese teenagers are ethnified through the use of various identity categories and their associated activities and attributes. The analysis demonstrates that multiethnic people use a variety of discursive practices to refute unwanted ethnification, including reworking the category, casting themselves in a different category and refusing to react to category-based provocations. Common to all three cases is the fundamental issue of how ethnicity becomes a resource for speakers in everyday conversation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

strong negative correlation is often found between schooling and teenage childbearing. The question at the center of this research is whether this correlation represents a causal relation. This paper uses changes in compulsory schooling laws in Great Britain and Northern Ireland to purge schooling estimates of biases resulting from individual-specific error components correlated with education. The results suggest that increased schooling does appear to reduce the incidence of teenage childbearing. Moreover, the results serve to highlight an important change in the impact of schooling on teenage childbearing following the legislation on contraception in the late 1960s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the implications of the current phenomenon of adolescent engagement in digital spaces. Young people are increasingly active Web 2.0 users, and their interactions through these technologies are altering their social identities, styles of learning, and exchanges with others around the world. The paper argues for more research to investigate this phenomenon through the use of virtual ethnography and identifies the ethical challenges that lie therein. It raises questions for school education and presents an argument for studying the area in culturally sensitive ways that privilege adolescents' voices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers' lack of sex education training has been widely regarded as a barrier to delivery, but very few in-service programmes have been evaluated. This paper evaluates the teacher training component of a theoretically-based behavioural sex education programme for 13-15-year-olds called SHARE. It combines data from participant observation, in-depth interviews, questionnaires and lesson observations. The teachers found the training very valuable, particularly in relation to collegiate support, familiarisation with the SHARE pack and reducing discomfort. The two main objectives of the training programme that were congruent with teachers' perceived needs were fulfilled: to make teachers more comfortable and confident to deliver sex education and to prepare them to deliver the SHARE pack. However, the introduction of social-psychologically informed skills based exercises, radically different to those normally followed, was the least successful aspect of the training, as one might predict from previous research on in-service training. This might suggest that theoretically based, behavioural health education programmes might be best delivered by specialist staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is an introduction the May 2001 issue of “Sociological Focus,” which tackles religion in the United States. It presents six analyses. The first examines the persistence of the Protestant Establishment, while documenting changes in the religious makeup of the country's cultural and power elite. Two other studies explore the ways in which local congregations such as Promise Keepers both reflect and produce American culture. There are also studies on parents' role in the transmission of religious identity and moral norms. Finally, one article shows how religion affects a teenager's academic achievement.

The educational plans of a national sample of white teen-age subjects are found to be associated with religious identification of the subject? mothers and the religious composition of the schools the subjects attend. Teenagers with Jewish mothers are most likely to plan to attend college; those connected with the largest Protestant denominations (except Baptists) and the Roman Catholic Church are next most likely to plan for college. Teenagers whose mothers identify with many of the smaller Protestant denominations or sects or with the Baptist churches are least likely to plan for college. Roman Catholics attending Catholic schools are more likely to plan for college than Catholics in public schools, even where the latter have a majority of Catholic students. Protestants attending predominantly Protestant schools are less likely to have college plans than Protestants attending schools in which the student body is less than half Protestant. Jewish subjects in predominantly Jewish schools are more likely to plan for college than those attending other schools. The differences in college plans by religion of mother and religious composition of school persist when occupation of household head, subject's intelligence test score, his mother's educational attainment, and family income are taken into account in the analysis. The results of this study are consistent with a theory that the values imparted by some religious denominations are more supportive of high levels of educational aspiration than those imparted by other denominations. However, the data presented in this paper are insufficient to specify the processes through which a particular religion produces high or low levels of educational ambition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media is lauded as a powerful tool for informal learning, and a tool of choice for teenagers. This paper reports on the findings of a survey of 384 secondary school pupils in the UK (aged 11-17) over a 12 week period. Our findings indicate a pervasiveness of social media usage amongst this age group, hut variety in the types of engagement and selfreported importance of social media. Usage of social media for learning is dominated by logistical task support (for example, clarifying instructions) and heavily focused around homework activities. However, it appears that this provides a context for deeper engagement and learning around those homework activities. Our findings indicate that social media is being used by this age group to support their learning, but that there is still great untapped potential both in terms of the range of activities discussed, and the number of pupils engaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Informatica (03505596) is the property of Slovene Society Informatika and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article focuses on academic teams which promote cross-curricular applications in middle school that improve learning outcomes in the U.S. The middle school concept was conceived more than 40 years ago to more appropriately focus on the developmental needs of young adolescents, both cognitive and affective. Several reasons which explain the inefficient use of team meeting time are discussed. The paper also discribes the middle school team project which was part of a larger district initiative.

Canada, a country of considerable wealth and resources, has one of the highest standards of living in the world. This country is politically organized as a democracy that is supportive of political and civil freedoms, yet inequalities among certain populations prevail. In general, Aboriginal people experience poorer economic, social, and environmental conditions than those of non-Aboriginal people (Canadian Population Health Initiative, 2005) and lower involvement in political and civil activity. This report also illustrates the inferior health status among Aboriginal people. Within the school system, an educational policy can serve to address an inequality. Hence, the purpose of the paper is to apply the tools outlined by Deborah Stone in her book, Policy Parodox: The Art of Political Decision Making (2002), to demonstrate why I believe school policies should be developed to prevent obesity among Aboriginal youth, to understand the politics of implementing these policies and to analyze and critique the ideas from hypothesized political opponents. Addressing these injustices provides recognition of the racism in present-day educational policy decision-making processes, which can result in more significant progress toward an equal and just society which ensures the health of Aboriginal peoples and successive generations.p [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the processes used and the lessons learned from creating an after school drama club that taught urban middle school students about the role that young adolescents had during the Civil Rights movement in the southern part of the U.S. The paper tells the story of what the middle school students learned about young adolescent involvement in the civil rights movement. It also describes future lessons to be learned by teachers and students about themselves while working with some issues related to culture, class, and history.

Examines the factors which encourage the participation of adolescents in school writing classes and influence their motivation to become skilled writers. Methodology; Results; Implications for education practice.

Background: The importance of educating female adolescents has been recognized as critical to the development of any country. However, in low income countries like Zambia they often drop out of school due to poverty, early pregnancy and early marriages. Some studies indicate that economic support such as Social Cash Transfers (SCTs) can mitigate the effects of poverty on female adolescents by improving their school participation and helping postpone pregnancy and marriage. This study aimed to explore the role of economic support in influencing education and sexual decision making among female adolescents in a randomised controlled trial in Zambia.Methods: The study adopted a qualitative approach. It utilized purposive and convenient sampling. Data were collected from 6 schools using 18 in-depth interviews (IDIs) and 4 focus group discussions (FGDs) comprising 48 school-going female adolescents in grade 8 aged 14 to 17. All participants received economic support in form of SCTs and payment of school fees as part of the Research Initiative to Support the Empowerment of Girls (RISE), a Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.Results: Findings suggested several benefits of the economic support for the female adolescents such as economic independence and empowerment; increased assertiveness and autonomy; reduced desire for sexual relationships with boys in exchange for cash and gifts; increased motivation for school; enhanced parental and community support for female adolescents' education and; reduced school dropouts. However, they also experienced jealousy from those who did not benefit from the economic support.Conclusion: Economic support played a significant role in influencing both educational and sexual decision making among female adolescents.Trial Registration: ISRCTN Registry: ISRCTN12727868 , (4 March 2016). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the individual and contextual effects of schools on the educational aspirations of a national sample of older adolescents. With individual student traits held constant, school-level contextual variables contributed little to the explanation of postsecondary school plans to graduate from college (R2 increase = .012). However, with individual-level student ethnicity, family background, and academic achievement held constant, a measure of classroom morale was positively and significantly associated with educational aspiration. This extends the well-documented link between class environment and learning to educational aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this article is to analyse informal learning processes in the field of video games. As many teenagers are engaged in these kinds of practices, the big question is: How do teens learn to play video games? In most cases they do not learn to play video games at school or with their parents, and therefore it is necessary to map and analyse these informal learning strategies (ILS). The aims of this article are to identify the main ILS that teens apply as they acquire and improve their video game literacy, and to develop a series of categories for analysing and classifying these informal learning experiences. After briefly outlining the situation of ILS and teens' transmedia skills, in the context of a general reflection on information literacy (IL) and transmedia literacy (TL), the methodological aspects of research and fieldwork in eight countries is described. A taxonomy of ILS related to video game practices is also presented. The research team identified six modalities of ILS (learning by doing, problem solving, imitation, playing, evaluation and teaching) and expanded them with four main categories (subject, time, space and relationships) that contain a series of oppositions. This set of modalities, categories and oppositions should be considered as a first step in the construction of a set of analytical tools for describing and classifying ILS in the context of teens' video game experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study contrasts personal bullying with ethnic-cultural bullying. A representative pluricultural sample from a Spanish adolescent population of Secondary Education took part in the study (N = 27369). The sample filled in the EBIPQ to measure personal bullying. Additionally, they filled in an adaptation of this questionnaire to measure the ethnic-cultural bullying: the EBIPQ-ECD. The EBIPQ-ECD validation showed optimal psychometric properties and a bidimensional structure: ethnic-cultural victimization and ethnic-cultural aggression. The same roles of participation in personal bullying —aggressor, victim, bully/victim, non-involved— were observed in ethnic-cultural bullying, but they did not coincide with each other in a considerable part. Therefore, we concluded that ethnic-cultural bullying is a different phenomenon from personal bullying, with the possibility of certain dynamism existing between both. To prevent and mitigate ethnic-cultural bullying, educational inferences are proposed. We also recommend the use of the EBIPQ-ECD as a tool to evaluate and detect ethnic-cultural aggressions and victimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), and despite attempts by governments and other agencies to address the issue, females remain significantly underrepresented. Research has shown that parents play a significant role in shaping the aspirations of children with regard to higher education. However, there is a paucity of research exploring the particular influence of parents on the aspirations of children towards STEM. Drawing on data from a four-year mixed-method longitudinal study conducted with students (N = 6,492) in Years 3 to 12 from the Australian state of New South Wales, we examine parent data (survey and focus groups) for those students who expressed an interest in pursuing STEM studies and careers. Students who expressed an interest in STEM were typically high achieving and just over 90% of their parents had aspirations for them to attend university--although this was proportionally higher for sons than for daughters. Even when parents created a supportive environment, there was little evidence indicating that girls were encouraged to pursue STEM. This analysis highlights the complexity and importance of parental influences on student aspirations. When exploring strategies aimed at encouraging students to consider pathways into STEM, we argue that educational institutions should consider ways of actively involving parents in order to counter stereotypical gendered views of STEM and to expand the range of possibilities considered by both girls and boys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates whether schooling outcomes at age 15 are affected by the duration of maternity leave, i.e. the time mothers spend at home with their new‐born before returning to work. We exploit an unanticipated reform in Austria which extended the maximum duration of paid and job protected parental leave from 12 to 24 months for births as of 1 July, 1990. Using PISA data from the cohorts 1990 and 1987, we find no significant overall impact of the parental leave extension on standardised test scores. However, subgroup analyses reveal strong heterogeneity by maternal education and child gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Educational Psychology is the property of International Journal of Educational Psychology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this pre-study, we investigate the effects of the font type and the contrast between the colour of the text and the colour of the background on the reading speed of readers A) with different age groups and B) with a different need for languagebased learning support using state-of-the art eye-tracking technology. We determine no significant difference between participants who were or were not receiving learning support (special support with a specialist teacher) due to languagebased reading disabilities when reading the font type Open Dyslexic. This suggests that this font increases the reading speed of participants who receive learning support for language-based learning disabilities. Our comparison of the reading speed for different passages of text displayed in different colour combinations indicates that a contrast of light text on a dark background may improve reading ability and reading performance. Both of these findings have significant implications for foreign-language teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young adolescents are highly engaged in literacy practices involving the use of digital technologies, both inside and outside of school. This study examines how the out-of-school use of digital technologies creates spaces in which young adolescents construct and negotiate positive learner identities. Through vignettes of four young adolescents, this research uses the conceptual framework of 'figured worlds' (Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner and Cain, 1998), to develop an understanding of the construction of learner identities through out-of-school use of digital technologies. The discussions of the participants reveal 'figured worlds' of friendship, homework and soccer that transcend the traditional boundaries of the real and the virtual, revealing a connected and dynamic concept of space. Within these worlds, the young adolescents move in and out of learner and teacher roles when necessary to learn or advance their skills, and in doing this, are developing self-understandings and conveying these understandings as performances within a figured world. This study argues that the learner identities are constructed and negotiated by the young adolescents are strong, positive and to varying extents self-crafted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of TEME: Casopis za Društvene Nauke is the property of TEME: Casopis za Drustvene Nauke and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The present study aimed to define differences between silent and oral reading with respect to spatial and temporal eye movement parameters. Eye movements of 22 German-speaking adolescents (14 females; mean age = 13;6 years;months) were recorded while reading an age-appropriate text silently and orally. Preschool cognitive abilities were assessed at the participants’ age of 5;7 (years;months) using the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children. The participants’ reading speed and reading comprehension at the age of 13;6 (years;months) were determined using a standardized inventory to evaluate silent reading skills in German readers (Lesegeschwindigkeits- und -verständnistest für Klassen 6–12). The results show that (i) reading mode significantly influenced both spatial and temporal characteristics of eye movement patterns; (ii) articulation decreased the consistency of intraindividual reading performances with regard to a significant number of eye movement parameters; (iii) reading skills predicted the majority of eye movement parameters during silent reading, but influenced only a restricted number of eye movement parameters when reading orally; (iv) differences with respect to a subset of eye movement parameters increased with reading skills; (v) an overall preschool cognitive performance score predicted reading skills at the age of 13;6 (years;months), but not eye movement patterns during either silent or oral reading. However, we found a few significant correlations between preschool performances on subscales of sequential and simultaneous processing and eye movement parameters for both reading modes. Overall, the findings suggest that eye movement patterns depend on the reading mode. Preschool cognitive abilities were more closely related to eye movement patterns of oral than silent reading, while reading skills predicted eye movement patterns during silent reading, but less so during oral reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the proliferation of sex education information sources in the twenty-first century, teenagers are faced with a wealth of available sources on the topic. However, hegemonic narratives from classroom education alienate certain youth, while negative misinformation from unreliable sources has the power to encourage harmful behaviors. At even greater risk are youth coping with trauma, particularly survivors of sexual assault and queer teens, or those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who have limited Internet access. This qualitative pilot study identifies the explicit and implicit choices that teenagers make to seek and select specific information sources for sex education, and it examines the factors that prevent teenagers from seeking such information from library resources. Data was collected in the form of semistructured, face-to-face interviews comprised of open-ended questions with four participants. The results suggest that teenagers use a variety of sources to gather sex education information, including curricular instruction and the Internet, as well as interpersonal, media, and print sources. A wide range of factors attracted participants to use specific sources, such as ease, privacy, comfort, perceived experience, familiarity, openness, and assured provenance. None of the participants visited the library for sex education, and lack of awareness of collections as well as confidentiality concerns represented the main barriers to use of libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schools have an important role in teaching students how to use Social Network Site (SNS) for career purposes. This involves the opportunity for students to practice online career skills. Different types of digital environments are available for schools. There are SNS designed to enable users to interact and network. In addition there are digital environments - like Virtual Learning Environments (VLE's) - designed to support learning processes but with possibilities to network and interact as well. Little is known about how characteristics of these environments may support the development of online career skills. In this study the suitability of four digital environments - two SNS and two VLE's- to practice online career skills was investigated. The concept of affordances was used to relate the characteristics of the digital environments to how they may stimulate the practice of online career skills. Based on this concept a framework was developed to analyse the characteristics of each environment. In addition, these results were compared with the actual use of the SNS by students. The results show that, although the two SNS appear to offer a stronger environment for practicing online career skills, students do not show more online career behaviour in these environments. Implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the layering of literacies and meaning-making practices in adolescents using offline and online tools which is noted to have no particular pattern and depends on the learning rhythm and pace of each student.

This study examined whether adolescents’ time spent on sedentary behaviors (academic, technological-based and social-based activities) was a better predictor of academic performance than the reverse. A cohort of 755 adolescents participated in a three-year period study. Structural Equation Modeling techniques were used to test plausible causal hypotheses. Four competing models were analyzed to determine which model best fitted the data. The Best Model was separately tested by gender. The Best Model showed that academic performance was a better predictor of sedentary behaviors than the other way round. It also indicated that students who obtained excellent academic results were more likely to succeed academically three years later. Moreover, adolescents who spent more time in the three different types of sedentary behaviors were more likely to engage longer in those sedentary behaviors after the three-year period. The better the adolescents performed academically, the less time they devoted to social-based activities and more to academic activities. An inverse relationship emerged between time dedicated to technological-based activities and academic sedentary activities. A moderating auto-regressive effect by gender indicated that boys were more likely to spend more time on technological-based activities three years later than girls. To conclude, previous academic performance predicts better sedentary behaviors three years later than the reverse. The positive longitudinal auto-regressive effects on the four variables under study reinforce the ‘success breeds success’ hypothesis, with academic performance and social-based activities emerging as the strongest ones. Technological-based activities showed a moderating effect by gender and a negative longitudinal association with academic activities that supports a displacement hypothesis. Other longitudinal and covariate effects reflect the complex relationships among sedentary behaviors and academic performance and the need to explore these relationships in depth. Theoretical and practical implications for school health are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of CEPS Journal is the property of University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article focuses on the experiences of alumni adolescents on the contribution of a Youth Opportunities Programme, a non-profit after-school education programme presented in Namibia. A qualitative descriptive design was used to provide insight into the contribution of this programme. Five focus groups were conducted with 32 participants. The transcribed data were analysed by means of thematic analysis. The rich descriptions of the experiences of alumni adolescents indicated learning, personal and relational experiences as well as challenges. The learning experiences included the transfer of academic knowledge and skills that assisted them to deal with advanced opportunities, and the provision of resources. They were able to socialise with friends and form personal relationships with teachers, serving as emotional support. The challenges they encountered while attending the programme on a full-time basis included high expectations in terms of time management, attendance and behaviour. These challenges proved to be exhausting at times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study examines if mental health problems at age 11 and changes in mental health problems between age 11 and 16 predict educational attainment of adolescents at age 19, overall and stratified by gender. Methods: Data from 1711 adolescents (76.8% from initial cohort) of the Tracking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS), a Dutch prospective cohort study with 9year follow-up, were used. Mental health problems (externalizing, internalizing and attention problems) were measured by the Youth Self Report and the Child Behavior Checklist at ages 11 and 16. Difference scores for mental health problems between age 11 and 16 were calculated. Educational attainment was assessed at age 19. Results: Externalizing, internalizing and attention problems at age 11 were significantly associated with low educational attainment at age 19 (crude model). When adjusted for demographic variables and the other mental health problems, only the association for attention problems remained significant (odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence interval: 3.19, 2.11–4.83). Increasing externalizing problems between age 11 and 16 also predicted low educational attainment at age 19 (OR 3.12, 1.83–5.32). Among girls, increasing internalizing problems between age 11 and 16 predicted low educational attainment (OR 2.21, 1.25–3.94). For boys, no significant association was found for increasing internalizing problems and low educational attainment. For increasing attention problems between age 11 and 16 no significant association with low educational attainment was found. Conclusions: Externalizing, internalizing and attention problems at age 11 and an increase of these problems during adolescence predicted low educational attainment at age 19. Early treatment of these mental health problems may improve educational attainment, and reduce socioeconomic health differences in adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the public YouTube profile of AnonyGirl1, the pseudonym used by a teenaged girl who takes to YouTube to narrate various aspects of her life. Using AnonyGirl1's case as an object of analysis, the article considers the new narrative flexibilities that are shaping young people's online explorations of self. On YouTube, where narrative linearity and fixity often come undone, AnonyGirl1 creates herself as a chimera of disappearing and reappearing video fragments that comprise an unstable, constantly changing entirety. In making and unmaking herself in fragments, AnonyGirl1 calls into question the presumed coherences of predominant youth narratives, negotiates her views about being young, and articulates processes of interior self-making through a mode of social expression that gives new form to its fluidities. Although the surfeit of narrative choices that AnonyGirl1 has at her disposal on YouTube come with a series of pleasures, the possibilities for self-construction that these choices provoke also come with debilitating pressures and confusions that she scrambles to negotiate. Amidst these pleasures and confusions, AnonyGirl1's narrative offers a venue through which educators can think through the emerging complexities of young people's online self-making practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study that analyzed the effects of cash transfers on school attendance and child labor for children aged 14 to 17. It highlights the National Plan for Social Emergency Assistance (PANES), a temporary antipoverty plan implemented by the Uruguayan government from April 2005 to December 2007. The results of the study are presented.

Background: "Mental health for everyone" is a school program for mental health literacy and prevention aimed at secondary schools (13-15 yrs). The main aim was to investigate whether mental health literacy, could be improved by a 3-days universal education programme by: a) improving naming of symptom profiles of mental disorder, b) reducing prejudiced beliefs, and c) improving knowledge about where to seek help for mental health problems. A secondary aim was to investigate whether adolescent sex and age influenced the above mentioned variables. A third aim was to investigate whether prejudiced beliefs influenced knowledge about available help. Method: This non-randomized cluster controlled trial included 1070 adolescents (53.9% boys, M age14 yrs) from three schools in a Norwegian town. One school (n = 520) received the intervention, and two schools (n = 550) formed the control group. Pre-test and follow-up were three months apart. Linear mixed models and generalized estimating equations models were employed for analysis. Results: Mental health literacy improved contingent on the intervention, and there was a shift towards suggesting primary health care as a place to seek help. Those with more prejudiced beleifs did not suggest places to seek help for mental health problems. Generally, girls and older adolescents recognized symptom profiles better and had lower levels of prejudiced beliefs. Conclusions: A low cost general school program may improve mental health literacy in adolescents. Gender specific programs and attention to the age and maturity of the students should be considered when mental health literacy programmes are designed and tried out. Prejudice should be addressed before imparting information about mental health issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use administrative data to estimate the effect of neighbourhood composition on teenagers' educational and behavioural outcomes in England. We exploit a unique research design based on changes over time in neighbourhood composition experienced by residentially immobile students, where these changes arise purely through residential migration among other students in our data set. The complete coverage of our data allows investigating heterogeneity and non-linearities in the effect of neighbourhood composition at an unprecedented level. Our results show that changes in neighbourhood composition have no effects on test scores but some effects on behavioural outcomes, which are heterogeneous for boys and girls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have found a negative association between family size and children’s outcomes, particularly education. The main theoretical frameworks that explain these negative associations posit that family resources mediate the relationship between family size and children’s outcomes, and children are resource receivers only. However, societies in which adolescents often work inside and outside the household and family resources are transferred unequally undermine these assumptions. We implement a twin birth instrumental variable approach and use the nationally representative 1997–2009 PNAD data to examine the impact of family size on school enrollment, labor force, and household work in Brazil. We propose a framework for understanding the implications of family size when adolescents both receive and provide resources in the family unit and these resources may be provided and/or received unequally depending on gender and birth order. While we find no evidence of gender or birth order differences in the effects of family size on education, the results indicate strong gender and birth order differences in adolescents’ contributions to their family units. We discuss the implications of our findings for the life course of adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The provision of toilets and menstrual supplies appears to be a promising strategy to promote adolescent girls' school attendance and performance in less developed countries. In this article, we use the first round of the Malawi Schooling and Adolescent Survey (MSAS) to examine the individual- and school-level factors associated with menstruation-related school absenteeism. Although one-third of female students reported missing at least 1 day of school during their previous menstrual period, our data suggest that menstruation accounts only for a small proportion of all female absenteeism and does not create a gender gap in absenteeism. We find no evidence for school-level variance in menstruation-related absenteeism, suggesting that absenteeism due to menstruation is not sensitive to school environments. Rather, coresidence with a grandmother and spending time on schoolwork at home are associated with lower odds of absence during the last menstrual period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the federal role in adolescent literacy from its roots in Lyndon B. Johnson's administration with the Economic Opportunity Act (1964) through the Reading for Understanding grants of 2010. The authors consider the extent to which the recent attention to and changes in the federal approach to adolescent literacy can be explained through the policy regime framework. Specifically, the study traces shifts in the policy paradigm around adolescent literacy and asks whether key actors and issue specialists that have routinely been part of the reading education policy regime at the federal level have changed over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essential requirement for supporting the activist literacies of adolescents is a critical understanding of the purposes, practices and roles of engaged citizens and of the linguistic and broader semiotic resources they deploy in response to their multi-layered contexts. Drawing on theories from social semiotic and rhetorical traditions as well as socio-culturally informed genre-based pedagogies, I discuss how teachers and adolescent learners have developed their knowledge of rhetoric and grammar from a close study of the texts of adolescent activists to inform their own activist literacies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND Brazil has witnessed dramatic changes in its fertility patterns in recent decades. The decline to below-replacement fertility has been accompanied by increases in the proportion of children born to young mothers. Yet we know little about the well-being of children born to young mothers in Brazil. OBJECTIVE and METHODS Using data from the 2006 Pesquisa Nacional de Demografia e Saúde and a quasi-natural experimental approach, this study examines the implications of maternal age at first birth for the education of Brazilian adolescents. RESULTS We find that being born to a young mother is associated with educational disadvantages in adolescence, but that these disadvantages are attenuated once we account for mothers' selection into early childbearing. We also find that, in southern Brazil, adolescents born to young mothers have poorer educational outcomes compared with their peers born to older mothers, but that in northern Brazil no such disparities exist. CONCLUSIONS Adolescent educational disadvantages associated with being born to a young mother are not an artifact of selectivity, at least in southern Brazil. Regional variation in the effect of maternal age at first birth on adolescent education suggests the important role of the extended family and the father's presence as mechanisms through which disadvantages operate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]