Academic literature on the topic 'Young academics'

The present study examines how mothering and fathering impact child academic outcomes in divorced and intact families, and if there are unique influences of mothering and fathering variables for sons and daughters. An ethnically diverse sample of 1,714 university students from Florida International University (n=1371) and Florida State University (n=343) responded to measures on a questionnaire that included the Nurturant Fathering and Mothering Scales (Finley & Schwartz, 2004; Schwartz & Finley, 2005; Finley & Schwartz, 2006), the Mother and Father Involvement Scales (Finley, Mira, & Schwartz, 2008), demographic measures, and academic outcome measures. In intact families, mothering and fathering variables were significantly correlated with each other, and positively correlated with child academic outcomes including grades, GPA, academic satisfaction, and academic importance. In divorced families, mothering and fathering variables were not correlated with each other. Furthermore, when analyzing divorced families, significant effects were found for both parent and child gender. Mothering variables were found to have the greatest positive impact for sons’ academic outcomes. Maternal nurturance and maternal involvement were correlated positively with academic outcomes for sons from divorced families and accounted for 3-4% of the unique variance explained. Consistently, desired mother involvement, how much involvement the child wished they had received, was negatively correlated with academic outcomes for sons from divorced families and accounted for 10-15% of the unique variance explained. This means that when the amount of maternal involvement that sons in divorced families received matched or exceeded their desired level of involvement, sons had more positive academic outcomes including grades, GPA, satisfaction with academics and academic importance. This suggests that in intact family forms, nurturant and involved mothering and fathering have a positive effect on academic outcomes for sons and daughters. In divorced family forms, the effects of fathering on child academic outcomes were not significant. Therefore, in divorced families, the positive effects fathering on academic outcomes of sons and daughters drop out, and mothers are uniquely important for sons’ academic success.

This research uses a novel policy writing method to explore young people’s subjective understandings of the problems of poverty. Working with five groups of young people, aged 11 – 21, from some of the most financially deprived areas of England, it sought to draw out and explore their “policy imaginary”, or the way they viewed the problems of poverty through a lens of ideal policy responses. It unpacks these young people’s policy imaginaries, and the life-narratives they discussed alongside these imaginaries, within a discourse of individualisation. Across four articles, it demonstrates and explores the complexities and ambiguities of these young people’s thinkings. This thesis begins by suggesting that many of the problems of poverty they identify as important to their lives are structural, and that they understanding the role of collective and political agency, rather than their own individual agency, in ending poverty. It then more specifically explores their understandings of their neighbourhoods and houses, which suggests that individualised factors often identified in other research, such as social contagion and epidemic neighbourhood effects, are not what they identify as most important in their local areas. It concludes by identifying a policy gap emerging along similar theoretical lines. Here, this research suggests that much of the policy directed towards these young people focuses on individualised problems, and their individual agency as a route of out poverty, but that this sort of policy response is not what these young people felt was needed. However, this is not to suggest that these young people downplayed or dismissed their own agency in charting their life-pathways. Indeed, as much previous literature has found, these young people spoke fluently about the agency and opportunities they have in their lives, often seeming ‘hyper-agentic’. However, this thesis suggests that exploring these young people’s policy imaginary appears to create a medium through which they can talk both about their agency and the constraints and limitations low-incomes generate. It allowed them to bridge their highly agentic biographies to their socially structured histories, as they saw them.

The national program for the development of next and new generation academic professionals (NGAP) aims to help Universities to diversify their academic teaching staff to be more reflective of the national demographics of the country. Through NGAP and policies of redress, a Historically White University would predictably introduce young black women into their academic teaching staff. This is a category of the population who would have been most affected by the exclusionary hiring policies that would have generally been in use in historically white universities before 1995, the year following the first democratic elections. The selection of staff according to criteria that has historically been used to exclude them is a policy which is widely considered to be a useful and necessary way to institute redress. While this half thesis does not disagree with this social and moral imperative, I find interest in the lack of focus on the emotional, psychological, spiritual and otherwise personal toll of the implementation of such a policy on those who are introduced through it and related policies. I believe there is a need to problematise the highly normative environments in which staff (to benefit from redress) are required to function. This half thesis examines the narrated experiences of three such staff members at Rhodes University with specific interest in their everyday experiences in an institution which has historically been tailored for (and in many cases is still run by) white, older male academics. The thesis indicates that the emotional and psychological effects and 'taxes' of being on an accelerated development programme may be worth noting and appreciating in order to think about the retention of black woman academics. The findings show that the complexity of younger black women's experiences within historically white universities such as Rhodes University requires equally complex and multifaceted strategies and programmes. These programmes should not only support these academics but also undermine existing exclusionary institutional cultures in order to facilitate true, deep transformational practice in historically white universities such as Rhodes University.

Young Thinkers is a collection of short fiction dealing with what it means to earn wisdom in the twenty-first century. When our phones can remember everything for us, and we're plagued by a sense that everything has already been said and digitally cataloged, insight becomes even more important, particularly to the thoughtful characters explored throughout the collection. The prolonged American adolescence facilitated by the economic crisis, as well as the societal acceptance of marrying and having children much later in life, creates an atmosphere of intense self-doubt. A young man working at a gas station after college witnesses a high school boy die in a hit and run, and he longs to comfort others at the vigil. Another young man decides he would rather rob houses than return to community college while wondering at ways to extend his lifespan. Young women struggle to feel important and independent, but find themselves assuaging their fears with cigarettes and alcohol. These characters yearn for the insight and experience that would make them decidedly and authoritatively adult.<br>ID: 030646259; System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader.; Mode of access: World Wide Web.; Includes reading list (p. 170-173).; Thesis (M.F.A.)--University of Central Florida, 2011.<br>M.F.A.<br>Masters<br>English<br>Arts and Humanities<br>Creative Writing

Positive academic self-efficacy beliefs are associated with increased motivation, higher levels of persistence, and overall academic success. There is a gap in the literature regarding how young adult learners with identified learning disabilities who are also enrolled in postsecondary education characterize their development of academic self-efficacy beliefs and corresponding adaptive coping skills. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to develop a meaningful understanding of the lived experiences of young adult students with learning disabilities in the development of their self-efficacy beliefs and adaptive coping skills. Social learning theory, particularly the self-efficacy belief components, was the guiding conceptual framework for the study. Ten postsecondary students with identified learning disabilities were recruited through a purposeful sampling strategy and engaged in individual, semi-structured interviews. Moustakas' steps to phenomenological analysis were employed to analyze the data. Analysis resulted in the emergence of 6 major themes in self-efficacy belief development: (a) the role of experience, (b) support systems, (c) role models, (d) adaptive coping mechanisms, (e) accommodations, and (f) effective educators. Insights from the analysis of the data may contribute to the further development of effective and supportive interventions, strategies, and accommodations for postsecondary students with learning disabilities.

Six themes were extracted from 19 conversational interviews with persons living with young-onset dementia: feeling frustrated, fear of slipping away, loss of personhood, life interrupted, finding a sense of security in the familiar, and wanting one's voice to be heard. These themes are interpretations of the human experience of living with dementia and are not intended to be generalizations or theoretical concepts. The experiences described in this study raise awareness about young-onset dementia and help health care practitioners and society-at-large develop a better understanding of what it is like to live with the disease. The misperception that people suffering from dementia do not have insight and the underestimation of their abilities is a great source of frustration for these people. Study findings also suggest that middle-age people with dementia want to be involved in meaningful, productive activities. Their resounding plea is to have their personhood embraced instead of negated.; The lived experiences of dementia in older persons have been well studied, but the unique experiences of persons between ages 35 and 65 years who are living with young-onset dementia have not been closely examined. The purpose of this research was to explore the experiences of middle-aged individuals living with young-onset dementia. Van Manen's (1990) approach to interpretive phenomenological inquiry was used to answer the research question. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 9 people between 42 and 61 years of age who received a formal diagnosis of mild or early-stage dementia. Participants were prescreened for the ability to reflect on their illness and the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ) was used to verify the participant's eligibility. Semi-structured, conversational interviews were used to gather the data. Consistent with van Manen's method of phenomenological reflection, theme analysis using the selective approach was used to grasp the essential meanings of the experience. Each participant was interviewed a minimum of two times.<br>ID: 029808958; System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader.; Mode of access: World Wide Web.; Includes curriculum vitae.; Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Central Florida, 2011.; Includes bibliographical references.<br>Ph.D.<br>Doctorate<br>Nursing

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2007.<br>Title from electronic title page (viewed Apr. 25, 2008). "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Education School Psychology." Discipline: Education; Department/School: Education.

<p> The purpose of this project was to develop a program, identify potential funding sources, and write a grant proposal to fund an academic support program that would provide services for males of color at-risk for high school drop out. The proposed program EmpowerMen, utilizes social workers as mentors, case workers, instructors, and therapist to provide support from an ecological systems approach to achieve higher graduation rates and promote secondary education. EmpowerMen&rsquo;s mission is to collaborate with Environmental Charter Schools and provide support for young male students, and intensive support for students identified as &ldquo;at-risk&rdquo; through case management, mentoring and mental health services, while promoting secondary education. </p><p>

School readiness incorporates children's academic abilities and their ability to self-regulate in the classroom. Prior research shows that sleep is related to children's development of these skills, although the mechanisms through which sleep affects school readiness are not well understood. Research also indicates that economically disadvantaged children and children of color may have poorer academic and regulatory skills at school entry and may sleep less and sleep less well on a regular basis. The current study explores the role of sleep quantity and quality in young children's development of two skills critical for school success: self-regulation and academic abilities. This study intentionally focuses on a predominantly African-American, economically disadvantaged population, who may be at risk for greater sleep-related difficulties and lower school-related skills at kindergarten entry. It was hypothesized that a) young children with higher quantity and quality of sleep would show greater development of academic skills and self-regulation across one calendar year, b) the role of sleep in the development of these abilities would be relatively stronger among kindergarteners than among 1st graders, and c) the role of sleep quality and quantity in young children's development of academic abilities would be partially explained by the relation between sleep and self-regulation. Results provide mixed support for the hypotheses, indicating that sleep quality and quantity relate differentially to different school-related skills among kindergarteners and 1st graders. This study contributes research to help explain how and why sleep affects young children and may offer insights for caregivers and educators working to help children develop school-related skills.