Linda M. Raffaele Mendez

Gender-Role Stereotyping and Career Aspirations: A Comparison of Gifted Early Adolescent Boys and Girls

This study examined the career aspirations of gifted early adolescent boys and girls utilizing a career aspirations measure that differentiated between the careers that were still being considered by each student versus those that had been ruled out. Careers were classified by sex type (male dominated, female dominated, or balanced), education required (high school degree, college degree, graduate degree), and prestige associated with the career. Assessments of gender-related personality attributes, achievement motivation, and attitudes toward the rights and roles of women also were administered to provide information on the correlates of career aspirations among gifted early adolescent students (examined separately by gender). Results showed that girls were interested in a significantly greater number of careers (i.e., had ruled out fewer occupations than boys). Girls also showed greater gender-role flexibility in their career aspirations than their male counterparts. Boys aspired to careers that were significantly higher in education required and prestige level than girls. The strength and direction of the relationships between career aspirations and gender-related personality attributes and achievement motivation varied by gender. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the differing career development needs of gifted early adolescent boys and girls.

Gender Roles and Achievement-Related Choices: A Comparison of Early Adolescent Girls in Gifted and General Education Programs.

The purpose of this study was to compare early-adolescent girls in gifted and general education programs on constructs related to gender-role stereotyping. Participants included 132 girls in a gifted program and 77 girls in general education. All participants were in grades 6–8. Because the gifted group was significantly higher in socioeconomic status than the general education group, this variable was covaried in the analyses. Results showed that girls in the gifted education program held stronger self-perceptions of instrumentality (or stereotypically masculine personality attributes), evidenced higher achievement motivation, were less traditional in their career aspirations, and were more liberal toward the rights and roles of women than their peers in general education. The two groups did not differ significantly on self-perceptions of expressiveness (or stereotypically feminine personality traits), degree of competitiveness, or fear of success. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding differences in gender-role stereotyping and achievement-related choices between girls in gifted and general education programs.

The Mental Health Professional's Role in Understanding, Preventing, and Responding to Student Sexual Harassment

ABSTRACT Sexual harassment is a common experience in todays schools. A majority of secondary students report experiencing sexual harassment at school, with many reporting that they experienced it in elementary school as well. This article provides mental health professionals working in schools with an understanding of sexual harassment so that they can be proactive in responding to harassment and developing effective interventions. The first section of the article provides a working definition, including examples of various situations that may be encountered, and distinctions between sexual and gender harassment. Subsequent sections address gender and ethnicity issues, developmental factors, special concerns related to gay and lesbian students, and pertinent legal issues (including a brief review of recent court cases). The article concludes with specific primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention strategies that can be used to address sexual harassment in schools.

Following Up on Community-Based Developmental Screening: Do Young Children Get the Services They Need?.

Community-based efforts to identify young children with developmental delays have shown promise, yet little is known about what happens after screening. In this study, parents of 57 children between the ages of 3 and 5 years participated in a telephone survey that occurred 6–18 months after participation in a community-based screening program. Survey questions asked about whether parents had linked to recommended services, barriers to linkages, satisfaction with services, and continued unmet service needs. Although 70% of participants reported connecting to recommended services, only 54% reported that the service(s) met their childs needs. Continuing unmet needs included emotional–behavioral services; occupational therapy; child care and therapy for preschoolers; and more private or alternative options, particularly during after school hours and in rural areas. Implications for improving community-based services for children are discussed.

Altering School Progression Through Delayed Entry or Kindergarten Retention: Propensity Score Analysis of Long-Term Outcomes

ABSTRACT The authors examined long-term outcomes for children who experienced delayed entry to kindergarten or kindergarten retention. They used a cohort of 6,841 students to compare these groups to each other and typically progressing peers. First, the authors compared the groups on demographic and early childhood variables. For the long-term school-based outcomes, they used propensity score analysis to address pretreatment differences between groups and examined outcomes by free or reduced-price versus paid lunch status. Results showed that the retained group experienced greater early risk than the delayed entry and typically progressing groups and poorer long-term outcomes even when controlling for pre-existing differences. Other than placement in special education, few differences emerged between the delayed entry and typically progressing groups. Implications of the study for progression decisions are discussed.

Including Parents in the Continuum of School-Based Mental Health Services: A Review of Intervention Program Research From 1995 to 2010

In this study, the authors reviewed journal articles published between 1995 and 2010 that described student mental health interventions involving parents delivered in school settings. Their review identified 100 articles describing 39 interventions. On the basis of participant selection criteria provided by the authors of the reviewed articles, the authors of this study grouped interventions into universal (Tier 1), selected (Tier 2), targeted or indicated (Tier 3), or multitier programs. Interventions were identified across Tiers 1, 2, and 3, although interventions involving all three tiers were rare (n = 2). Common intervention goals were prevention of substance abuse and reduction of externalizing behavior problems. The majority of programs involved parents through group parent training. Example programs were selected at each tier to provide a description of how parents were recruited, how services were delivered to families, and outcomes for participants. Implications for school psychologists who wish to promote greater parent involvement in interventions at their schools and directions for future research are noted.

Engaging Struggling Early Readers to Promote Reading Success: A Pilot Study of Reading by Design

In this study, we piloted a Tier 2 intervention designed to improve reading skills among struggling early readers using an intervention that included SRA Reading Mastery, listening-while-reading activities, strategies to increase motivation and engagement in reading, and parent involvement in reading homework. The study included 6 students in Grade 1 and 5 students in Grade 2 (N = 11), all of whom were failing to meet grade-level reading benchmarks. We delivered the intervention in small, grade-based groups for 35 min 4 times per week for 4 months. Pretest and posttest performance on the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests-Third Edition using grade-based standard scores indicated significant improvement on the Total Reading cluster (p = .0017, d = 1.23) and the following subtests: Oral Reading Fluency (p = .0095, d = 1.21), Word Attack (p = .0064, d = 0.89), Passage Comprehension (p = .0207, d = 0.66), and Word Identification (p = .0245, d = 0.93). We discuss implications for practice and future research.