The girl protagonists in Jean Kwok's "Girl in Translation" and Kelly Yang's "Front Desk" embody and reinterpret the notion of "guai" (loosely translated as "good") in their struggle to adapt to life in America. "Guai" is the most important concept governing childhood in Chinese societies. The word,…

This article presents an overview of factors that contribute to the inequitable underrepresentation of girls of color in gifted and talented with an emphasis on Blacks since they are most frequently absent. After presenting this national context, the authors present Ford's Female Achievement Model for Excellence as a gendered and racial culturally…

In this article, we suggest that just as there are barriers and challenges that are particular to Chicanas/Latinas in terms of student retention and persistence, so must the mentoring offered to these students take into account their particular social, cultural, and gendered contexts. In response, we argue for a model of "mujerista"…

Whilst rural idylls have dominated some discussions of rural social difference, little attention has been paid to rural utopias. Imagined, material and discursive experiences of utopian rural ideals are critically examined in this paper. It takes as its focus the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival--an annual US womyn-only festival--in order to…

It is often that during their academic pursuits, to become successful, low-income African-American women must learn to navigate an upstream current through higher education, where the established order in the academy is based on Western European values that often conflict with African-American values (Harper, Patton & Wooden, 2009; Phinney,…

The purpose of this study was to substantiate and further develop a previously formulated conceptual model of Role Acceptance in Mexican American family caregivers by exploring the theoretical strengths of the model. The sample consisted of women older than 21 years of age who self-identified as Hispanic, were related through consanguinal or…

The purpose of the current study was to examine factors that influence rape myths among Korean college students. This study was particularly interested in the ways in which attitudes toward women and sexual double standard affect the relationship between gender and rape myths. Although the incidence of rape is a common concern in many current…

Domestic abuse continues to claim many lives in Spain despite a series of new laws to protect women and to punish abusers. This essay explores the cultural influences of contemporary Spanish cinema on domestic violence. Four films are assessed against a Portfolio Model of social responsibility that uses two basic dimensions: realism and human…

In this study, I conducted focus group interviews with 21 Arab American college students (9 men, 12 women; 9 Muslims, 12 non-Muslims), who were selected for extreme manifestation of religiosity or acculturation, to explore their beliefs and attitudes toward socioecological (SE) factors that facilitated and hindered their individual physical…

Transnational marriages account for a significant proportion of family-based immigration to North America. An increasing number of immigrant men are choosing to marry women from their countries of origin, and an increasing number of nonimmigrant men are choosing to marry women from other countries. Existing studies on the experiences of foreign…

The European Union has set a goal that by 2010, 12.5% of the working age population should be taking part in lifelong learning. This participation rate has not yet been achieved in many countries. A partial explanation is the fact that the decision to participate depends on a variety of factors at three levels: the individual; the educational…

Using data from Waves I and III of Add Health, this study examines early family formation among 6,144 White, Black, and Mexican American women. Drawing on cultural and structural perspectives, models of the first and second family transitions (cohabitation, marriage, or childbearing) are estimated using discrete-time multinomial logistic…

Beginning with Lev Vygotsky's long-established assertion that the play of children always involves both imaginary play and rules of behavior, this article argues for a theoretical framework that connects such play with the construction of social identities in kindergarten peer groups. It begins with a discussion of Ivy Schousboe's model of the…

With the advent of the 2nd wave of the women's movement, numerous voices within social work academia called for the inclusion of gendered content in the curriculum. The subsequent addition of content on women was a pivotal achievement for the social work profession. However, gender is an increasingly slippery concept. A current call for…

Presents a career decision-making model that highlights the complexity and unique nature of career choice for Mexican-American women. Its foundational components are values, social issues, and culture and their impact on self-efficacy. (SK)