Bullying in 25 secondary schools: incidence,impact and intervention

This paper outlines an investigation of the incidence and impact of physical, verbal and property-violation bullying in 25 secondary schools within a partnership operating with Keele University. The investigation also considers the impact of antisocial behaviour on pupils and the effectiveness of intervention to secure improved behaviour patterns. Evidence shows that in any year 75 per cent of pupils are bullied but that severe and repeated bullying is likely to be perpetrated and suffered by about seven per cent of pupils. Four behaviour patterns can be identified: bullies, bullies who are also victims, victims and non-participants, and the link between behaviour and factors in developing self-esteem is explored. Successful intervention requires a change of attitude on the part of both pupils and the community, a willingness to report events, and an understanding of respect for personal space.     

An examination of perceptions of parental influence on attitudes to language learning

Background The assumption that parents have some effect on their children's attitudes to learning is one that few educationalists would challenge. The ways in which this influence is brought to bear are a slightly more complex and contentious matter, however.

Purpose The paper uses data from a tri-national PhD study on pupil attitudes to examine perceptions of the ways in which parents influence children's orientations towards foreign language learning (FLL). The comparative element is useful in providing a contrasting range of settings in which to examine the issue. The paper thus aims to provide some indication of the similarity and importance of particular influences by identifying features that seem significant, irrespective of setting.

Sample A total of 411 learners of French, German and English (as foreign languages), represented in roughly equal numbers from across the ability range, took part in the survey. The pupils, aged 15 – 16, were drawn from two centrally located mixed comprehensive schools in each country—England, Germany and The Netherlands. The schools were similar in terms of size, social intake and their semi-urban location. Care was taken to ensure as close a gender balance as possible.

Design and methods The study was designed as a qualitative survey and involved three data collection instruments. The first stage of data was collected using a written word association prompt distributed to the whole sample. The second stage involved around half the pupils generating written accounts of their attitudes and the factors they perceived to be influential. A total of 80 pupils took part in the final stage, consisting of 14 focus group interviews. A system of open coding was applied to all the data to support the process of inductive category building used in their analysis.

Results The findings offer some evidence for an association between parental and pupil attitudes. Parental influence appears to operate in a number of ways, ranging from the role model potential of positive/negative behaviours and the communication of educational regrets, to the ways in which parents help to construct their children's understandings of language importance and status. The extent of parental language knowledge appears to be an important additional factor.

Conclusions The evidence suggests that the ways in which parents contribute to the construction of their children's understanding of language utility are particularly important, and that this may be a key factor in the more positive attitudes demonstrated by the German pupils and the more negative orientations among the English participants.     

Cultural values and attitudes toward immigrants and multiculturalism: The case of the Eurobarometer survey on racism and xenophobia

The current paper uses archival data to examine variations in Schwartz's and Hofstede's cultural value orientations and their relationship to attitudes toward immigration and multiculturalism reported in the Eurobarometer Survey [Attitudes towards minority groups in the European Union: a special analysis of the Eurobarometer 2000 opinion poll on behalf of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia. Eurobarometer Opinion Poll. Retrieved September 1, 2003, from http://europa.eu.int/comm/public_opinion/index_en.htm] on racism and xenophobia. The results demonstrated that mastery, masculinity, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and collectivism were associated with weaker support for policies that promote social co-existence. Masculinity and mastery were also linked to more pessimistic attitudes towards multiculturalism, and increased harmony was correlated with less desire for cultural assimilation. The results largely converge with research undertaken at the individual-level of analysis, and the data suggest four clusters of cultural values related to immigration attitudes: humanitarianism-egalitarianism, conservation, collectivism, and instrumentality.     

Culture as an influence on sexting attitudes and behaviors: A differential analysis comparing adolescents from Spain and Colombia

This study analyses the prevalence of sexting and the reasons and attitudes associated with its practice in adolescents with different cultural backgrounds (Colombia and Spain). The sample is made up of 489 Spaniards and 510 Colombians aged between 13 and 18 years. The results show that sexting is strongly influenced by gender and the country, in favor of men and Colombians respectively. The interaction between gender and country establishes that in Spain women and men practice sexting equally, while in Colombia men practice much more sexting than women. Although the practice of sexting increases progressively with age, the levels are higher among Colombian adolescents, especially after 15 years. According to the results, although both groups present a high risk for sexting, socio-cultural aspects and gender constitute differential variables to be taken into consideration. Therefore, it is necessary to design preventive strategies including cultural differences in relation to the sexuality.     

Three-Year Study of Students’ Attitudes Toward Physical Education: Grades 4–8

Purpose: A relationship exists between attitudes toward physical education and future physical activity. The purpose of this study was to examine changes in attitude toward physical education as students progressed from upper elementary school (Grade 4) through middle school (Grade 8). Method: Three cohorts of students (Cohort 1, Grades 4–6, n = 96; Cohort 2, Grades 5–7, n = 71; and Cohort 3, Grades 6–8, n = 73) were each followed for 3 years to examine changes in attitudes toward physical education. Results: After an initial increase from Grade 4 to Grade 5, a significant decrease was observed from Grades 5 to 8 in students’ positive attitudes toward physical education, with a faster rate of change for girls than boys. Conclusion: This longitudinal study provides further insights regarding the attitudes of students as they progress from Grade 4 to Grade 8 and expands on previous findings identifying decreasing positive attitudes toward physical education as students age, particularly for girls. The results provide evidence to support targeted interventions.     

The effects of individual- and national-level factors on attitudes toward child maltreatment

Knowledge is lacking regarding the extent to which national norms and policies designed to protect minors influence individual attitudes toward child maltreatment. Relying on the tenets of cultural sociology, we examine whether the orientation of a nation influences individual attitudes toward child maltreatment. Specifically, nations with greater economic and political stability tolerate more self-expressive values, focusing on individual autonomy and enhancing quality of life. Conversely, nations with a survivalist orientation, often characterized by greater economic uncertainty, are less supportive of behaviors that may result in further instability. The current study builds on extant research by investigating the effects of national norms and policies and individual-level attitudes and characteristics on individual attitudes toward child maltreatment (N = 66,391) in 53 developing and developed nations. We analyze data from the World Values Survey using Hierarchical Generalized Linear Modeling. Overall, countries with a greater survivalist orientation appear less tolerant of child maltreatment. Moreover, greater support for violence in general at both the national- and individual-level are associated with more supportive attitudes toward child maltreatment. Policy implications and legislative reform are discussed.     

When imagining intergroup contact mobilizes collective action: The perspective of disadvantaged and advantaged groups

The current studies aimed to reveal the potential role of imagined intergroup contact on collective action tendencies within a context of intergroup conflict. Study 1 (disadvantaged Kurds, N = 80) showed that imagined contact increased collective action tendencies and this effect was mediated by increased perceived discrimination and ethnic identification. Study 2 (advantaged Turks, N = 127) demonstrated that imagined contact also directly increased collective action tendencies, as well as perceived discrimination and relative deprivation among the advantaged group. No significant mediation emerged. At the same time, in line with literature, imagined contact led only the advantaged group members to display more positive outgroup attitudes. Findings suggest that in settings where ingroup identities and conflict are salient, imagined contact may not readily undermine motivation for social change among group members.     

Reasons for placement decisions in a case of suspected child abuse: The role of reasoning,work experience and attitudes in decision-making

Child welfare and child protection workers regularly make placement decisions in child abuse cases, but how they reach these decisions is not well understood. This study focuses on workers’ rationales. The aim was to investigate the kinds of arguments provided in placement decisions and whether these arguments were predictors for the decision, in addition to the decision-makers’ risk assessment, work experience and attitudes towards placement. The sample consisted of 214 professionals and 381 students from the Netherlands. The participants were presented with a vignette describing a case of alleged child abuse and were asked to determine whether the abuse was substantiated, to assess risks and to recommend an intervention. The participants’ placement attitudes were assessed using a structured questionnaire. We found that the participants provided a wide range of arguments, but that core arguments – such as the suspected abuse, parenting and parent-child interaction – were often missing. Regression analyses showed that the higher the perceived danger to the child and the more positive the participants’ attitudes towards placement, the more likely the participants would be to propose placing the child in care. Arguments related to the severity of the problems (i.e., suspected abuse, parenting and the child’s development) as well as the parents’ perceived cooperation also influenced placement decisions. The findings indicate trends in the decision-making process, in the sense that participants who decided to place the child out-of-home emphasized different arguments and had different attitudes towards out-of-home placement than those who did not. We discuss the implications of our findings.     

Promoting the attitudes of nursing students towards refugees via interventions based on the contact hypothesis: A randomized controlled trial

A randomized controlled study was implemented on 90 nursing students in Turkey. The sample was divided into two groups: intervention and control group. The intervention group received education on refugee health and participated in a practical internship with refugees. Three scales were administered to the two groups at baseline (pre-test) and the end of intervention (post-test): "Xenophobia", "Attitude Towards Refugees" and "Intercultural Sensitivity". The three scale post-test scores of the intervention statistically significantly differed from control group and showed a statistically significant interaction between the groups and time in the two-way analysis of variance. The three scale post-test scores significantly differed from the pre-test scores in the intervention group, showing more relevant effects on xenophobia scale, two subscales of attitude towards refugees and intercultural sensitivity scale. The interventions based on the contact hypothesis improved nursing students' attitudes towards refugees.     

Academic e-Book Publishing in China: An Investigation of Current Status and Publishers' Attitudes

This study investigates the current status and attitudes towards academic e-book publishing by mainland Chinese academic publishers through an online survey. This study collected survey data from 49 authoritative academic publishers in China, focusing on their e-book sales profiles and their perceptions of how e-book sales affect publishers and libraries. The data reveals that China's academic e-book industry is still at an early development stage and has a relatively small market. The findings show significant differences in the willingness and attitudes towards e-book publishing between SSH publishers and STEM publishers, and also demonstrate that the enhancement of the demand for e-books by academic libraries promotes the process of the digital transformation of academic publishers. This study then argues that Chinese academic publishers need to further improve the quality of academic e-books, accelerate the transition from academic content providers to academic content service providers, and strengthen their cooperation with stakeholders.