Purpose is an indicator of healthy human development and believed by some theorists and educators to be an important outcome of college. The aim of this study was to test the potential for assessing purpose using a person-centered analysis, thereby providing more individual-specific understanding of students' purpose development, and second by…

Objective/Research Question: Master narratives, as theorized using a critical race perspective, are stories of the majority that function to obscure and normalize the oppressive operation of power in society. Counternarratives are the stories of minoritized individuals which expose and challenge the stories of the majority. This study examined…

Purpose: The study's purpose is to present and empirically test a model that identifies academic self-concept as a mediator of the relationship between gender, sexual orientation and self-perceptions of leadership ability. Design/methodology/approach: Surveys were administered to 964 first-year undergraduate students. Findings: Academic…

Purpose. The purpose of this qualitative, life history study was to explore the cumulation of life and lived work experience and perceptions of gay male K-12 teachers in Southern California, and how school leadership has affected that journey. Theoretical Framework. Queer theory was the theoretical framework used in this story. The theory studies…

Youth purpose has important implications for behavior and well-being, yet there is limited information about the types of purpose that young people pursue. The current study contributes insight into the content of purpose through a survey of 316 adolescents and young adults. Analyses of responses revealed that young people rated their purposes as…

Formal mentoring has been an effective approach to mitigate challenges facing underserved youth and contributes to observable improvements in behavior, relationships, and emotional well-being (Rhodes, 2008). Mentored youth appear to gain improvements in peer and parent relationships and school performance, while also engaging in lower levels of…

This qualitative research study explored current graduate students with disabilities personal and academic experiences. The three theoretical frameworks utilized were Disability Studies in Education (DSE), intersectionality and Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) to connect how race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability identities…

Research suggests that, to narrow the gender gap in engineering, we should focus on helping young girls identify with engineering both because gendered attitudes emerge around kindergarten and because identity is more predictive than performance on persistence in the field. This qualitative study sought to understand the impact of collaborative…

We investigated the relationship of self-sexualization to self-objectification, weight concerns, self-efficacy, academic outcomes, and career aspirations among preadolescent girls. Participants were 89 six- to nine-year-old girls; parental reports were also obtained. Two thirds of girls showed signs of self-sexualization by choosing a sexualized…

Purpose is an important aspect of character development and thriving in adolescence; yet, there is little research explaining how it develops or how contexts such as school can support its development. In this study, 1,304 eighth graders completed a survey that measured purpose as the integration of 2 dimensions-- beyond-the-self life goal…

This essay examines a video poem curriculum for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) students of color at a continuation school in Los Angeles, California. In this close reading of a video poem that draws from a larger research project of a community-based learning curriculum, I have found that for LGBTQ students of color whose…

A growing number of single-gender and after-school programs for youth continue to gain popularity within schools despite little empirical research regarding how these programs should be designed to achieve maximum success. The present study examined the effectiveness of a comprehensive middle school male academy program in terms of student…

Building on G. A. Kelly's (1991a, 1991b) personal construct theory, this study introduced concepts of threat and guilt as different manifestations of internalized antilesbian and gay prejudice. Results with 102 lesbian and gay participants indicated that internalized threat and guilt each accounted for unique variance in global internalized…

This study used an exploratory mixed methods design to address the questions: (1) "Is there a positive language of youth purpose, and if so, what is it like?" and (2) "Which kinds of purpose best predict reports of positive states and coping styles?" Qualitative coding identified references to positive states and coping…

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between Sedlacek's (2004b) student noncognitive variables (positive self-concept, realistic self-appraisal, successfully handling the system, preference for long-term goals, leadership experience, presence of a strong support person, community service, and knowledge of the…