scholarly journals On the Margins, Getting By, Persevering, or Flying High? The Intersection of Wellbeing, Attainment, and Transitions in a Scottish Longitudinal Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aline-Wendy Dunlop
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
School Transitions ◽  
Educational Transitions ◽  
Policy Action ◽  
Educational Transition ◽  
Children’S Wellbeing ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Time Frames

This paper draws on a Scottish longitudinal study. It focuses on the variability of a sample of focal children's wellbeing and attainment trajectories on the journey through education from the age of 3 to school leaving at 16–18 years old in one Scottish Council area, in order to respond to the question What aspects of the intersection of wellbeing, attainment, and school transitions help to explain school leaving outcomes? The relationships between wellbeing and attainment either side of primary and secondary school start are explored and the ways these may link to transition experiences and educational outcomes at school leaving are raised. A new interpretation of Bronfenbrenner's “mature” bioecological system model which considers person, processes and educational contexts over time frames the methodology, methods and findings of a data rich exploratory-interpretive longitudinal study and discusses their relationship to current dilemmas surrounding educational outcomes in Scotland at the present time. The role of wellbeing and attainment measures as proxies for school success is considered and found to be too narrow a concept in the form experienced by the focal group of study participants. While wellbeing needs to be much more clearly defined and fostered, concepts of attainment predicated only on maths and literacy (and on some measures, science) are found to be insufficient in that they may discriminate against too many. Attention to the opportunities offered and risks inherent in periods of educational transition allow identification of, and reflection upon the qualities of a good educational transition from both early childhood education to school start, and subsequently in the move to secondary education. It is found that a “good transition” though it exists, is not available to all children: consequently more equitable approaches are advocated, and alternatives for practical and policy action are proposed. Study of educational transitions dates back fifty years: is it not time for systems themselves to change?

Living class in a ‘meritocratic’ Australia: The burdens of class and choice on young people’s end-of-school transitions

2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 396-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Donovan
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Young People ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
School Transitions ◽  
School Students ◽  
Australian Education

In the Australian education system, there are substantial class inequalities in educational outcomes and transitions. These inequalities persist despite increased choice and individual opportunity for young people. This article explores high school students’ experiences of class in a social context they largely believe to be a meritocracy. Specifically, it asks: how does class shape young people’s thinking and decision-making about their post-school futures? I use Bourdieu’s ‘habitus’ as a frame to understand the role of class in young people’s lives, stressing its generative and heterogeneous aspects. Drawing on qualitative-led mixed methods research, this article argues that young people have internalised the ‘doxa’ of meritocracy, agency and ambition, conceiving of themselves as individual agents in this context. However, risk and security, opportunities and constraints, are not distributed equally in a class-stratified society. Young people from working-class backgrounds more commonly imagine insecure, uncertain futures.

Compensatory advantage in educational transitions

2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabrizio Bernardi ◽  
Moris Triventi
Keyword(s):  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Parental Education ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Educational Transitions ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Transition From High School ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Simulated Scenario

In this article, first, we present new evidence on a specific type of compensatory advantage (CA) mechanism in educational transitions and attainment, whereby students from socio-economically advantaged families compensate the negative event of achieving poor grades by ignoring them and disproportionally moving on to the next level of education. Using two independent data sources, we focus on the attainment of an upper secondary degree and the transition from high school to university in Italy, investigating the role of parental education and social class in compensating for an early poor academic performance. Second, we develop a simulated scenario analysis to assess how much of the observed social background inequality is due to the educational outcomes of poorly performing students from high social backgrounds. The results are consistent with the notion that a CA mechanism is in place and show that the advantage of individuals with higher backgrounds over those from lower backgrounds is much larger among students with bad marks in earlier school stages. We estimate that at least one-third of the observed social background inequality in educational transitions in Italy can be attributed to the CA mechanism. This result is consistent across different outcomes, samples and birth cohorts, and is robust to a number of sensitivity checks.

Genes, Gender Inequality, and Educational Attainment

2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (6) ◽  
pp. 1069-1098 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Herd ◽  
Jeremy Freese ◽  
Kamil Sicinski ◽  
Benjamin W. Domingue ◽  
Kathleen Mullan Harris ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Add Health ◽  
Historical Change ◽  
Social Constraints ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Structural Constraints ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
The Relationship

Women’s opportunities have been profoundly altered over the past century by reductions in the social and structural constraints that limit women’s educational attainment. Do social constraints manifest as a suppressing influence on genetic indicators of potential, and if so, did equalizing opportunity mean equalizing the role of genetics? We address this with three cohort studies: the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS; birth years 1939 to 1940), the Health and Retirement Study, and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health; birth years 1975 to 1982). These studies include a “polygenic score” for educational attainment, providing a novel opportunity to explore this question. We find that within the WLS cohort, the relationship between genetics and educational outcomes is weaker for women than for men. However, as opportunities changed in the 1970s and 1980s, and many middle-aged women went back to school, the relationship between genetic factors and education strengthened for women as they aged. Furthermore, utilizing the HRS and Add Health, we find that as constraints limiting women’s educational attainment declined, gender differences in the relationship between genetics and educational outcomes weakened. We demonstrate that genetic influence must be understood through the lens of historical change, the life course, and social structures like gender.

A Qualitative, Longitudinal Study Exploring Obese Adolescents’ Attitudes Toward Physical Activity

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Lindelof ◽  
Claus Vinther Nielsen ◽  
Birthe D. Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Weight Loss ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Positive Attitude ◽  
Willingness To Participate ◽  
Obese Adolescents ◽  
Theory Of Practice ◽  
Active Life ◽  
Hermeneutic Approach ◽  
Study Participants

Background:Individuals’ attitude toward physical activity may contribute to their willingness to participate in such behavior. This study qualitatively and longitudinally explored obese adolescents’ attitudes to physical activity.Methods:Fifteen obese adolescents were recruited at a weight loss camp. Participants were followed for 2.5 years with 3 yearly rounds of participant observations and interviews. Data were analyzed using a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach.Results:Four categories were identified: 1) throughout the study participants became more sedentary as they de-selected activities like bike riding; 2) participants did not perceive their increasing inactive lifestyle as hindering weight loss as they consider such activities as futile compared with vigorously hard exercise; 3) participants frequently failed to participate in hard exercise, like going to the gym; and 4) participants had a genuine antipathy against being physical active.Conclusions:Among others, a reason why obese adolescents fail to live an active life is that they find limited pleasure in such behavior. It is argued that obese adolescents need a positive attitude toward physical activity if they are to be more active. With reference to Bourdieu’s theory of practice, it is hypothesized that such attitude needs to be learned through everyday life by experiencing joy and meaning by being physical active.

scholarly journals Non-parental care in childhood and health up to 30 years later: ONS Longitudinal Study 1971–2011

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 1121-1127
Author(s):  
Emily T Murray ◽  
Rebecca Lacey ◽  
Barbara Maughan ◽  
Amanda Sacker
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Residential Care ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Never Married ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
National Statistics ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Study Participants

Abstract Background Children who spend time in non-parental care report worse health later in life on average, but less is known about differences by type of care. We examined whether self-rated health of adults who had been in non-parental care up to 30 years later varied by type of care. Methods We used longitudinal data from the office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study. Participants were aged <18 and never-married at baseline of each census year from 1971 to 2001. Separately for each follow-up period (10, 20 and 30 years later), multi-level logistic regression was used to compare self-rated health outcomes by different care types. Results For combined census years, sample sizes were 157 896 dependent children with 10 years of follow-up, 166 844 with 20 years of follow-up and 173 801 with 30 years of follow-up. For all follow-up cohorts, longitudinal study members who had been in care in childhood, had higher odds of rating their health as ‘not good’ vs. ‘good’; with highest odds for residential care. For example, 10-year follow-up odds ratios were 3.5 (95% confidence interval: 2.2–5.6) for residential care, 2.1 (1.7–2.5) for relative households and 2.6 (2.1–3.3) for non-relative households, compared with parental households after adjustment for childhood demographics. Associations were weakest for 10-year, and strongest for 20-year, follow-up. Additional adjustment for childhood social circumstances reduced, but did not eliminate, associations. Conclusion Decades after children and young people are placed in care, they are still more likely to report worse health than children who grew up in a parental household.

scholarly journals Context Effects in the Evaluation of Bodily Symptoms: Comparing Three Versions of the Health Norms Sorting Task

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 141-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Weck ◽  
Michael Witthöft
Keyword(s):  
Somatic Symptom ◽  
Context Effects ◽  
Somatoform Disorders ◽  
Evaluation Process ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Sorting Task ◽  
Context Variables ◽  
Symptom Reports ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Time Frames

The illness-related evaluation of bodily symptoms is considered to be an important maintaining factor in somatoform disorders. However, little is known about context variables that could influence this evaluation process. In the current study, participants completed three versions of the Health Norms Sorting Task (HNST) and evaluated bodily symptoms in different contexts (i.e., different evaluation perspectives and time frames of evaluation). Additionally, the three HNST versions were presented in different orders. Bodily symptoms were evaluated more often as a sign of illness when a specific time frame (i.e., one week) was given. However, this context effect was only large when participants had previously evaluated symptoms existing without a concrete duration. Thus, previously completed symptom evaluations appear to represent an important frame of reference in terms of a cue that makes specific context variables salient. The results further suggested that these cueing effects might be less relevant for participants with elevated somatic symptom reports.

Social and Economic Development and Change in 4 Guatemalan Villages Over a Half Century

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. S69-S78
Author(s):  
Paúl Melgar ◽  
John A. Maluccio ◽  
Aura Isabel Arevalo ◽  
Andrea Alvarez ◽  
Marvin Alvarez
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Central America ◽  
Home Country ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Subsistence Farming ◽  
Health And Nutrition ◽  
Social And Economic Development ◽  
Study Population ◽  
Study Participants

This article describes nearly 50 years of social and economic development and changes that have occurred in the 4 villages of the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP) Longitudinal Study (1969-1977). In doing so, it contextualizes the changes in health and nutrition for the study population over that period. Since the start of the INCAP Longitudinal Study, the original 4 villages, like their home country, have undergone tremendous demographic, social, and economic change. Originally rather isolated, road and transportation access for the villages has improved steadily and substantially. The population in the villages has more than doubled. Schooling access and outcomes have also improved substantially, with average grades of schooling tripling and literacy doubling, reaching levels currently on par with national averages. Occupations have also changed over the course of a generation. Early on, subsistence farming and agriculture in general were dominant but are now much less common. Much of this change is associated with declining agricultural markets alongside increased access to nonagricultural jobs near the villages and in the capital. With all these changes have come improvements in living standards. It is within this dynamic context that study participants for the INCAP Longitudinal Study were born and raised and where most now live as adults.

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