Occupational choice, socio-economic status and educational attainment: a study of the occupational choices and destinations of young people in the British household panel survey

The article considers young people's occupational choices at the age of 15 in relation to their educational attainment, the occupations of their parents and their actual occupations when they are in their early 20s. It uses data from the British Household Panel Survey over periods of between five and ten years. The young people in the survey are occupationally ambitious: many more aspire to professional, managerial and technical jobs than the likely availability of these occupations. In general ambitions and educational attainment and intentions are well aligned but there are also many instances of misalignment; either people wanting jobs which their educational attainments and intentions will not prepare them for, or people with less ambitious aspirations than their educational performance would justify. Children from more occupationally advantaged families are more ambitious, achieve better educationally and have better occupational outcomes than other children. However, where young people are both ambitious and educationally successful the occupational outcomes are as good for those from disadvantaged as advantaged families. In contrast, where young people are neither ambitious nor educationally successful, the outcomes for those from disadvantaged homes are very much poorer than for other young people. The article suggests that while choice is real it is also heavily constrained for many people. A possible educational implication of the study is that career interventions could be directed at under-ambitious but academically capable young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Young people with intellectual disabilities attending mainstream and segregated schooling: perceived stigma, social comparison and future aspirations

Mainstream schooling is a key policy in the promotion of social inclusion of young people with learning disabilities. Yet there is limited evidence about the school experience of young people about to leave mainstream as compared with segregated education, and how it impacts on their relative view of self and future aspirations. Sixty young people with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities in their final year of secondary school participated in this study. Twenty-eight individuals came from mainstream schools and 32 attended segregated school. They completed a series of self-report measures on perceptions of stigma, social comparison to a more disabled and non-disabled peer and the likelihood involved in attaining their future goals. The majority of participants from both groups reported experiencing stigmatized treatment in the local area where they lived. The mainstream group reported significant additional stigma at school. In terms of social comparisons, both groups compared themselves positively with a more disabled peer and with a non-disabled peer. While the mainstream pupils had more ambitious work-related aspirations, both groups felt it equally likely that they would attain their future goals. Although the participants from segregated schools came from significantly more deprived areas and had lower scores on tests of cognitive functioning, neither of these factors appeared to have an impact on their experience of stigma, social comparisons or future aspirations. Irrespective of schooling environment, the young people appeared to be able to cope with the threats to their identities and retained a sense of optimism about their future. Nevertheless, negative treatment reported by the children was a serious source of concern and there is a need for schools to promote the emotional well-being of pupils with intellectual disabilities.

Mental health, coping and family-functioning in parents of young people with obsessive-compulsive disorder and with anxiety disorders

Objective. To compare mental health, coping and family-functioning in parents of young people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety disorders, and no known mental health problems. Method. Parents of young people with OCD (N=28), other anxiety disorders (N=28), and no known mental health problems (N=62) completed the Brief Symptom Inventory (Derogatis, 1993), the Coping Responses Inventory (Moos, 1990), and the McMaster family assessment device (Epstein, Baldwin, & Bishop, 1983). Results. Parents of children with OCD and anxiety disorders had poorer mental health and used more avoidant coping than parents of non-clinical children. There were no group differences in family-functioning. Conclusion. The similarities across the parents of clinically referred children suggest that there is a case for encouraging active parental involvement in the treatment of OCD in young people.

Vocations in biography and fiction; an annotated list of books for young people.

First published in 1953 under title: Vocations in fact and fiction.

Milk drinking habits among young people; a psychological study made co-operatively by the Milk research council, inc. ... and the University of Newark research centre ...

Reproduced from type-written copy.

Telepaediatrics and diabetic retinopathy screening of young people with diabetes in Queensland

We have examined the feasibility of a telemedicine-enabled screening service for children and adolescents with diabetes in Queensland. There are approximately 1400 young people with diabetes in Queensland and only about two-thirds of them are screened in accordance with international guidelines. A regional retinal screening service was established using a non-mydriatic digital retinal camera. Seven centres volunteered to participate in the study. During a five-month pilot trial, 83 of the young people with diabetes who attend these centres underwent digital retinal screening (3.7%). Retinal images were sent via email to a paediatric ophthalmologist for review and results were returned via email. A copy of each participant's results was forwarded by mail to the referring diabetes doctor and the participant and family. The majority of the image files (96%) were rated as excellent or good. Only one participant was identified as having an abnormal result. Participants and their families expressed satisfaction with the digital retinal screening process.

The psychosocial impact of caregiving on young people who have a parent with an illness or disability: Comparisons between young caregivers and noncaregivers

Objective: To investigate the psychosocial impact of young caregiving by empirically validating prominent qualitative themes.. This was achieved through developing an inventory called the Young Caregiver of Parents Inventory (YCOPI) designed to assess these themes and by comparing young caregivers and noncaregivers. Method: Two hundred forty-five participants between 10 and 25 years completed questionnaires: 100 young caregivers and 145 noncaregivers. In addition to the YCOPI, the following variables were measured: demographics, caregiving context, social support, appraisal, coping strategies, and adjustment (health, life satisfaction, distress, positive affect). Results: Eight reliable factors emerged from the YCOPI that described the diverse impacts of caregiving and reflected the key themes reported in prior research. The factors were related to most caregiving context variables and theoretically relevant stress and coping variables. Compared with noncaregivers, young caregivers reported higher levels of young caregiving impact, less reliance on problem-solving coping, and higher somatization and lower life satisfaction. Conclusions: Findings delineate key impacts of young caregiving and highlight the importance of ensuring that measures used in research on young caregivers are sensitive to issues pertinent to this population.

Investigating the Association Between Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) and the Health of Canadian Young People: A Mixed Methods Study

Canadian young people are increasingly more connected through technological devices. This computer-mediated communication (CMC) can result in heightened connection and social support but can also lead to inadequate personal and physical connections. As technology evolves, its influence on health and well-being is important to investigate, especially among youth. This study aims to investigate the potential influences of computer-mediated communication (CMC) on the health of Canadian youth, using both quantitative and qualitative research approaches. This mixed-methods study utilized data from the 2013-2014 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey for Canada (n=30,117) and focus group data involving Ontario youth (7 groups involving 40 youth). In the quantitative component, a random-effects multilevel Poisson regression was employed to identify the effects of CMC on loneliness, stratified to explore interaction with family communication quality. A qualitative, inductive content analysis was applied to the focus group transcripts using a grounded theory inspired methodology. Through open line-by-line coding followed by axial coding, main categories and themes were identified. The quality of family communication modified the association between CMC use and loneliness. Among youth experiencing the highest quartile of family communication, daily use of verbal and social media CMC was significantly associated with reports of loneliness. The qualitative analysis revealed two overarching concepts that: (1) the health impacts of CMC are multidimensional and (2) there exists a duality of both positive and negative influences of CMC on health. Four themes were identified within this framework: (1) physical activity, (2) mental and emotional disturbance, (3) mindfulness, and (4) relationships. Overall, there is a high proportion of loneliness among Canadian youth, but this is not uniform for all. The associations between CMC and health are influenced by external and contextual factors, including family communication quality. Further, the technologically rich world in which young people live has a diverse impact on their health. For youth, their relationships with others and the context of CMC use shape overall influences on their health.

Parental alcohol use and resilience in young people: A study of family, peer and school processes

Funded by HSC R&D Division, Public Health Agency Parental alcohol misuse or ‘hidden harm’ presents a very significant challenge to public health policy and practice in the UK and internationally. A parent’s alcohol problems can have a profound impact on their children. Children depend on their family to meet their physical, psychological and social needs, their economic security and well-being, all of which can be jeopardised by parents misusing substances (NACD, 2011). The prevalence of parental alcohol misuse is extremely difficult to estimate, due to the ‘hidden’ nature of the problem within the family unit. Approximately 40,000 children in Northern Ireland are estimated to live with parental alcohol misuse (DHSSPS, 2008). In the UK, 30% of children (3.3 to 3.5 million) under 16 years, live with at least one binge drinking parent and 22% of children (2.6. million) with a hazardous drinker (Manning et al., 2009).  

Are adolescents/young people and their families getting the best service when being cared for by young adolescent student nurses?

The purpose of this presentation is to highlight issues that exist for student nurses who embark on a career in children's nursing at a very young age and subsequently find themselves in a situation where they are expected to deliver high quality care to young people and their families. An introductory sentence indicating the purpose of the presentation: Currently in the UK under the Making a Différence Curriculum (DOH 1999) students can enrol on a single registration programme for Children's Nursing as young as 17.5 years. Children are admitted to hospital onto the children's wards between the ages of 0-16 years (occasionally older). Using Viner's (2003) définition of adolescence as being that period between the ages of ten and twenty-five years when biopsychosocial maturation leads to functional independence in adult iife demonstrates the possibility that both the patients and the nursing students could be undergoing very similar transitional experiences. Historically, in the 1940-50's children were admitted to childrens wards between the ages of 2-12 years. Nurse education at that time tended to be undertaken for first or second level registration in the first instance, followed by post-registration training for specialist areas. Subsequently, the phenomenon of adolescent paediatric nursing students being required to care for adolescents and their families on the children's wards did not exist some 60 years ago. A brief description of the highiights of the présentation: This présentation will focus on adolescent transitions with particular reference to issues that could arise when young students are required to care for young people and their families, particularly when there is a diagnosis of self harm or substance abuse. A summary of findings and/or other relevant information: Preliminary findings have indicated that very young student nurses find caring for adolescents to be particularly challenging. Health issues pertinent to young people appear to présent particular challenges for the students which raises questions in respect of the quality of care that the young people and their families may receive. A conclusion and implications: The following need to be further explored: i) Support within the clinical areas and adequate de-briefing strategies, ii) The efficacy of single registration to children's nursing, iii) Young people and their family's perception of the quality of care they receive from very young students.