This study sought to extend the research on adolescents' hope, academic expectations, and average grades. The hope theory (Snyder, "Psychological Inquiry" 13(4):249-275, 2002), the salutogenic paradigm (with a focus on sense of coherence (SOC) (Antonovsky 1987)), and Bandura's ("Journal of Management" 38(1):9-44,…

This study evaluates the Youth Development Program (YDP), a component of the federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA). We examine whether the YDP reduced dropout rates among youth in secondary schools in seven school districts in the impoverished Mississippi River Delta in southeast Arkansas. Initially, the program seems to have an impact. Students…

Increasing dropout rates in senior high school physical education, particularly among females, and unhealthy activity and obesity levels in youth have led to recommendations to assess potential contributing factors in physical education participation. Drawing from gender, body image, and social-cognitive theory, this study investigated relations…

This study longitudinally tracks 10th grade students for 4 years regarding their persistence in aspirations of teaching careers using a nationally representative sample (National Educational Longitudinal Survey of 1988). Factors contributing to persistence in aspirations of teaching careers are examined based on the social-cognitive career theory…