Jeanne A. Saunders

Gender Differences in Self-Perceptions and Academic Outcomes: A Study of African American High School Students

There is increasing divergence in the academic outcomes of African American males and females. By most accounts, males are falling behind their female peers educationally as African American females are graduating from high schools at higher rates and are going on to college and graduate school in greater numbers. Some have suggested that school completion and performance is associated with how students feel about themselves. The purpose of this study was to explore gender differences in the relationship between self-perceptions and 2 academic outcomes among a sample of 243 African American high school sophomores. The results suggest that, overall, females are more favorably oriented toward high school completion. Both male and female students with more positive self-perceptions have stronger intentions to complete the current year of high school. Higher grade point averages were more strongly associated with greater self-efficacy for females than for males. Given these findings, increased attention to educational programming, societal messages, and future research is warranted.

Friends, Family, and Neighborhood Understanding Academic Outcomes of African American Youth

This study examines the relationship between academic performance and a number of contextual factors for African American freshmen in an urban setting. Living arrangements, relatives and friends’ religiosity, exposure to academic success, and neighborhood perceptions were analyzed to investigate their impact on intention to complete school, grade point average (GPA), and number of suspensions. Results indicate that gender, church attendance by peers, and percentage of relatives completing high school were significant in predicting positive academic outcomes. Perception of neighborhood deterioration was inversely related to intention for school completion and GPA. School suspensions were positively related to perception of neighborhood deterioration. Implications for interventions are discussed.

Alternative School Students' Perceptions of Past [Traditional] and Current [Alternative] School Environments

The opening of a new alternative school in a suburb of a small midwestern city in 1995 provided the opportunity to elicit student perceptions of their past and current school environments. Students were asked at two different times to complete three short scales that characterized teacher, counselor and administrative responsiveness to them: the first time they were surveyed they were asked about their former school; the second time they were surveyed they were asked about their experiences in their new alternative school. The students were also asked to rate the overall experience of their past and current school and explain their responses. The responses to these scales clearly point to a perception among the alternative school students that their new alternative school experience-- including interactions with teachers, counselors and administrators-- was significantly better than the schools they left. An examination of the reasons they gave for these differences is illustrative of the needs of these at-risk students and suggests intervention strategies to keep them in school.

A Brief Report: Factors Influencing African American Youth Decisions to Stay in School.

The goal of the study was to assess positive factors that contribute to African American students’intentions to stay in school. Two hundred and thirty-one African American students participated in this study. Using the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as a conceptual model, surveys measured student attitudes toward school-year completion, social support for completing the academic year, and their perceptions of personal control over school completion. The contributions of self-esteemand racial self-esteemwere also examined for their influence on academic strivings. The TPB was a better predictor of intentions to complete the school year than student grade point averages (GPAs). Self-esteemadded only slightly to the variance explained in predicting intentions to complete the school year, but neither self-esteemnor racial self-esteemwas a significant predictor of GPAs.

Drug therapy in pregnancy: The lessons of diethylstilbestrol, thalidomide, and Bendectin

A pregnant woman and the fetus she carries face health risks from many sources. One risk that requires ongoing vigilance is the use of prescription drugs during pregnancy. The international health care community has been sensitized to the risks of drug use during pregnancy because of three pharmaceuticals that have caused widespread crises for mothers and their offspring. The crises that diethylstilbestrol, thalidomide, and, to a lesser extent, Bendectin have created in the past four decades are reviewed in this article. The lessons these drug crises can teach us are articulated in the belief that similar crises may be averted in the future.

Cultural Competence: A Journey to an Elusive Goal

To develop cultural competence, one must undertake an elusive journey that likely has no destination. Social workers have a responsibility to undertake this often rocky journey with few guideposts. As educators of future professionals, schools of social work must ensure that their students begin, or continue, this journey during this time of professional training. This article presents a case study that describes the journey of a school of social work to develop a more culturally competent organization and its efforts to extend this perspective to the larger college and university in which it resides. An organizational change model is used to assess what strategies were most effective, and it offers potential strategies for other schools on their journey.

Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Programs: Theoretical Models for Effective Program Development

Abstract Adolescent pregnancy and parenting remains a pressing social and public health concern because the United States continues to have the highest teen pregnancy rate among Western developed nations and because of the attendant social, psychological, and physical problems for young parents and their children. Prevention efforts to reduce the incidence of pregnancy and parenting among all teens continue to be critical. Even though funding constraints may limit the number of programs, it is possible to maximize the effectiveness of those that do exist or are developed. The most effective prevention programs are those based on theoretical models. This paper focuses on common theoretical models in four areas (developmental, perceived control, attitudes/ intentions, and social learning) that can be easily applied to pregnancy prevention program development. After a short description of the theory and a discussion of its use in the literature, the theorys relevance to pregnancy/parenting prevention program development is discussed.

Capacity Building for Gerontological Services: An Evaluation of Adult Day Services in a Rural State

As the number of elders in our nation increases, it becomes critical to develop programs and services designed to meet their biopsychosocial and physical needs. This article reports on one component of a mixed methods evaluation study of adult day service programs in Iowa, a critical home and community-based service for elders. After providing a description of their individual services, adult day services (ADS) administrators identified barriers to the growth of this program in the state. It was found that there were three main types of barriers that prevented the growth of ADS in Iowa: (a) systemic, (b) community-based, and (c) funding. It was found that there was a need for capacity building of adult day services in Iowa. A model for addressing these barriers through capacity building at the state and local levels is discussed.