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We investigate whether adherence to dominant masculine norms and choice of college major are related among undergraduate men in the United States. Our results indicate that men’s level of conformity to certain masculine norms is associated with their postsecondary field of study. In particular, we find men’s adherence to the masculine norm of emotional control is associated negatively with selecting majors from such academic fields as clinical and health sciences or arts and humanities compared to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and doctoral-track medicine (e.g., pre-medicine and pre-dentistry). Conformity to the masculine norm to focus on work is related negatively to choosing a major in arts and humanities or communication and media fields compared to STEM and doctoral-track medicine fields. These results suggest ways that dominant social norms about masculinity may contribute to gender segregation of postsecondary fields of study.

The speeches of birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger have received scant attention. This article examines the contraceptive rhetoric in Sanger’s speeches to international and US audiences. Drawing from scholarship on epistemic communities and the politicization of women’s bodies, it uses rhetorical analysis to identify the thematic elements of these speeches. It finds that Sanger’s rhetoric in her internationally delivered speeches mostly located the act of contraception at national and international levels, rather than at individual or family levels. Additionally, Sanger’s contraceptive rhetoric in the United States created bodies in search of creative fulfillment, while her non-US rhetoric worked largely to construct bodies in pursuit of civic responsibility. The epistemic community backing Sanger privileged and legitimized her rhetoric, helping to construct women—especially women outside the United States—as nationalistic entities and global citizens through whom the successful adoption of contraception equated with a better nation and a more peaceful world. The article underscores how rhetoric, backed by an epistemic community, operates as a powerful tool for constructing gendered political and civic bodies.

Although the vulnerability of young people to HIV/AIDS continues to be a serious concern in South Africa, no research has used a representative sample of South African youth to examine whether individual HIV risk perceptions change over time and, if they do, what factors are associated with change. Using data from the Cape Area Panel Study, a multi-racial, longitudinal study of youth and their households, this study examined whether youth change their HIV risk perceptions over a four-year period and whether sexual behaviors, knowing someone with HIV, gender and race are associated with any change. Overall, changes in HIV risk perceptions tend to be small. As predicted, sexual activity is associated with increases in risk perceptions. Contrary to predictions, condom use at last sex is associated with increases in risk perceptions and knowing someone with HIV is associated with decreases in risk perceptions. In addition, there is variation by gender and by race in the factors associated with change in risk perceptions. This study serves as an initial examination of change in the HIV risk perceptions of South African youth; further investigation of their HIV risk perceptions over time is needed.Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Risk Perceptions, First Sex1. INTRODUCTIONIn recent years, hopeful signs regarding the HIV/AIDS epidemic among young people in South Africa have emerged. HIV prevalence among young people in South Africa appears to be stabilizing. For 15- 24 year-olds, national HIV prevalence rates were estimated at 9.3% in 2002, 10.3% in 2005 and 8.7% in 2008, the most recent year for which national HIV prevalence data are available (Shisana and Simbayi, 2002; Shisana, 2009). HIV incidence appears to have declined in recent years among teenage males and females and 20-24 year-old females (Fraser-Hurt et al., 2011), which has been attributed to increases in condom use among young people (Shisana, 2009).In spite of these encouraging trends, the vulnerability of young people to HIV/AIDS continues to be a serious concern in South Africa. HIV transmission largely occurs through heterosexual intercourse in South Africa and portions of the youth population continue to engage in sexual behaviors that place them at risk of HIV infection (Shisana, 2009; Fraser-Hurt et al., 2011). Risk perceptions are a central component of many models of health behavior (for a recent review, Aiken et al., 2012). These models give rise to the behavior motivation hypothesis, or the prediction that individuals who perceive themselves to be at risk of a disease will engage in behaviors known to prevent the disease (Brewer et al., 2004). Numerous studies of disease have tested the behavior motivation hypothesis; fewer studies have tested the risk reappraisal hypothesis, or the prediction that taking an action believed to reduce risk of a disease will lower self-perceived risk for the disease (Brewer et al., 2004). Research to date (to the best of our knowledge) has not specifically considered whether the HIV risk perceptions of South African youth change over time and if they do, what factors are associated with change. This study uses data from the Cape Area Panel Study (CAPS), a longitudinal study of youth and their households from Cape Town, South Africa, to examine whether HIV risk perceptions change over a four-year period and whether sexual behaviors, knowing someone with HIV, race and gender are associated with any change.1.1. HIV Risk PerceptionsA number of studies have found that young South Africans often perceive their risk of HIV infection to be low, even if they engage in sexual risk behaviors (Macintyre et al., 2004; Anderson et al., 2007; Kenyon et al., 2010a; Fraser-Hurt et al., 2011), which may reflect youthful optimism and feelings of invulnerability (Moore and Rosenthal, 1991; Macintyre et al., 2004). (For studies finding that young South Africans have at least moderate levels of knowledge about the sexual transmission of HIV, (Anderson and Beutel, 2007; Shisana, 2009; Fraser- Hurt et al. …

Educational expectations, in particular the relationship between race/ ethnicity and educational expectations, have been understudied in less developed countries. We use data from the Cape Area Panel Study (CAPS) to examine the educational expectations of black (African), coloured (mixed race), and white (European ancestry) youth in Cape Town, South Africa. The educational expectations of all three racial groups are high, although coloured youth are less likely than black and white youth to expect to complete postsecondary or postgraduate schooling. Supporting research on educational expectations in the United States and other more developed countries, our findings indicate that socioeconomic status and academic performance matter for educational expectations in South Africa, although their importance varies by racial group. In contrast to U.S. studies that have found effects of family composition for whites only, we found virtually no effects of family composition on the educational expectations of whites or nonwhites. Our findings suggest possible similarities and differences across social contexts in the processes shaping the educational expectations of youth from disadvantaged groups. Because of their potential to influence educational outcomes, educational expectations have been of considerable interest to sociologists. A great deal of research has examined educational expectations in the United States and other more developed countries (e.g., Buchmann and Dalton 2002; Cheng and Starks 2002; Hao and Bonstead-Bruns 1998; Hauser, Tsai, and Sewell 1983; Looker and Pineo 1983; Marjoribanks 2002; Sewell, Haller, and Portes 1969). Relatively few studies have investigated educational expectations in less developed countries (e.g., Adams, Wasikhongo, and Nahemow 1987; Forste, Heaton, and Haas 2004; Moller 1995; Post 1990), particularly the relationship between race/ethnicity and educational expectations. How educational expectations are formed in parts of the world with social structures that may differ from those in the United States and other more developed countries is not well understood. South Africa presents an ideal location for considering how context may influence educational expectations, as a number of social and economic features distinguish it from the United States and other more developed countries. One is the tremendous economic stratification of the country. Wage inequality in South Africa is among the highest in the world, and unemployment rates are as high as 40% (Burger and Woolard 2005; Kingdon and Knight 2001; Klasen 1997; Leibbrandt, Woolard, and Woolard 2000). As a result, there is tremendous variation in access to educational capital, which may influence educational expectations. second is the nature of racial stratification in South Africa: under apartheid (the policy of extreme racial segregation practiced until the early 1990s), individuals were placed into one of three groups on the basis of race-an advantaged group composed of whites (those of European ancestry), a moderately disadvantaged group consisting of both coloureds (those of mixed race) and Asians (mostly from India), and a severely disadvantaged group made up of blacks (Africans) (e.g., Klasen 1997; Mwabu and Schultz 1996; Thomas 1996). Although de jure discrimination ended with the dismantling of apartheid, racial inequality persists in South Africa (e.g., Burgard and Treiman 2006; Burger and Woolard 2005; Charasse-Pouele" and Fournier 2006; Lestrade-Jefferis 2002). By studying educational expectations in a country with a clearly defined racial status hierarchy, we may improve our understanding of the relationship between race and educational expectations. Third, South Africa provides a different schooling context in which to examine educational expectations. For example, school fees (tuition) are generally charged for school enrollment, even for primary and secondary education. Last, dramatic social changes have occurred in South Africa over the past fifteen years. …

HIV/AIDS knowledge is an important component of HIV/AIDS risk prevention strategies that may influence engagement in high risk behavior. This paper examines HIV/AIDS prevention knowledge among a representative sample of 4,174 youth living in Cape Town, South Africa. Data come from the Cape Area Panel Study (CAPS), and include black, coloured, and white respondents ages 14-22. Using an open-ended question, respondents were asked to name ways people can protect themselves from HIV/AIDS infection. Nearly everyone could name at least one method of preventing HIV infection, and respondents named two methods on average. Condoms, abstinence, and limiting the number of sexual partners/having only one sexual partner were the most frequently named prevention methods. Multivariate analysis was used to analyze correlates of specific forms of HIV/AIDS prevention, as well as the total number of prevention methods named by each respondent. Having had sex, highest grade completed, and race were the most commonly significant correlates across models. Race interaction terms were also significant, suggesting that the significance of HIV/AIDS knowledge correlates varies across racial groups. Overall, the results suggest that more depth of knowledge about HIV/AIDS is needed among South African youth to ensure proper protection from the disease, and that HIV/AIDS education might be more successful if tailored to specific racial/ethnic groups.

Using data from a 31-year panel study, we investigate reciprocal relationships between individuals’ attitudes about gender and their experience with a range of social settings commonly associated with the transition to adulthood. These settings include school, the labor market, independent living arrangements, cohabitation, marriage, and parenthood. We consider the extent to which gender and age moderate the relationships between attitudes about gender and exposure to these social contexts. Ordinary least squares regression and hazard models demonstrate that support for egalitarian roles for women and men in families is positively linked to subsequent school enrollment, women’s full-time employment, and independent living, but negatively associated with the subsequent timing of entry into marriage and marital parenthood. Accumulated schooling, independent living, and full-time employment are associated with changes in individuals’ attitudes about gender. Despite careful attention to gender differences, we find surprisingly little evidence that the causes and consequences of attitudes about gender differ for women and men, with the primary exception being the positive association of employment and egalitarian gender attitudes for women but not for men.

Prior research on the relationship between adolescent childbearing and later life outcomes is deficient in two respects. First it has focused almost exclusively on socioeconomic outcomes failing to consider the possible effect of a birth on social psychological outcomes. Second it generally has not considered whether the relationship between adolescent childbearing and outcomes has changed across cohorts and over time. This study attempts to fill these two gaps by estimating and comparing the effects of nonmarital childbearing on change in a social psychological variable educational expectations over the period between the sophomore year in high school and two years later using longitudinal data for the sophomore cohorts of High School and Beyond 1980 and the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988. Findings for both cohorts indicate that adolescent girls tend to reduce their educational expectations following a nonmarital pregnancy or birth. In addition adolescent girls with low educational expectations are at greater risk of a nonmarital pregnancy or birth than adolescent girls with high educational expectations. (authors)