Noncollege Youth Research Articles

비대학 청년의 삶에 대한 연구

This study is an qualitative research to understand not only the characteristics of personal lives but also the social alienation and difficulties of adaptation of non-college youth. As a result of thematic analysis, it was divided into past, present, and future. The past is the opportunity that led them to choose non-college, and with this opportunity, they began to live an invisible life in the present, and plan the future with the lives of non-college youth were analyzed by dividing them into the past, which was the reason for choosing non-college, focusing on the present when they felt invisible and alienated, and the future with hopes and expectations for the future. Non-college youth have ended up living a life without attending college, either voluntarily or involuntarily. It was confirmed that they were feeling alienated in many aspects, such as ‘difficulty in addressing,’ ‘lack of psychological resources,’ ‘alienation from society,’ ‘institutional/policy alienation.’ Non-college youth did not become complacent due to realistic difficulties. They have a high demand for long-term, regular learning and hop for solidarity with their peers. Detailed attention and institutional protection from society is needed so that non-college youth can live as members in Korea.

Examining the heterogeneity of polysubstance use patterns in young adulthood by age and college attendance.

Substance use in young adulthood and polysubstance users (PSU), in particular, pose unique risks for adverse consequences. Prior research on young adult PSU has identified multiple classes of users, but most work has focused on college students. We examined PSU patterns by age and college attendance during young adulthood in two nationally representative samples. Using National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) Wave 1 and NESARC-III data sets, multigroup latent class analysis (MG-LCA) was employed to examine PSU patterns based on age (18-24 vs. 25-34) and determine whether solutions were similar (i.e., statistically invariant) by college attendance/graduation. Classes were estimated by binary past-year use of sedatives, tranquilizers, opioids/painkillers, heroin, amphetamines/stimulants, cocaine, hallucinogens, club drugs, and inhalants, and past-year frequency of alcohol, cigarette, and cannabis use. PSU patterns are largely replicated across waves. Model fit supported 3-class solutions in each MG-LCA: Low frequency-limited-range PSU (alcohol, cigarettes, and cannabis only), medium-to-high frequency limited-range PSU (alcohol, cigarettes, and cannabis only), and extended-range PSU (ER PSU; all substances). Apart from one model, MG-LCA solutions were not invariant by college attendance/graduation, suggesting important differences between these groups. Except for alcohol, cannabis, and cigarette use frequency, results showed that probabilities of illicit and prescription drug use declined in the older age group. Findings also supported examining college and noncollege youth separately when studying PSU. ER PSU may be uniquely vulnerable to coingesting substances, particularly for nongraduates, warranting future research to classify patterns of simultaneous PSU and identify predictors and consequences of high-risk combinations (e.g., alcohol and opioids). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Bibliotecas para jóvenes: superando un cliché heredado

With the failure of school libraries in Spain and public libraries that are more targeted to adult patrons, it seems that the library authorities have forgotten about services to adolescents. The specific needs of young people aged between 14 and 18 years are not being met. It is proposed that the successful information commons (or resource centers for learning and research, as they are known in Spain) of the universities be made available to non-college youth through cooperation agreements with public administration.

Social, Contextual and Psychological Correlates of Alcohol and Illegal Drug Use by College and Non College Attending Youth

Adolescent and young adult alcohol and illegal drug use and abuse in the U.S. are public health and social problems of epidemic proportions. This study attempts to identify social, contextual and psychological correlates of levels of alcohol and illegal drug use for a local sample of college and non-college youth. Results from regression analyses indicated a significant influence of friends on level of alcohol and marijuana use and on illegal use of prescription and other drugs. Frequency of marijuana use was significantly associated with being male and frequently feeling depressed. In addition, attending a four-year college was positive and significantly related to higher levels of alcohol consumption. Implications for college and university and social policymakers and for future research are discussed.

Longitudinal Relationships Between College Education and Patterns of Heavy Drinking: A Comparison Between Caucasians and African-Americans

The current study compared longitudinal relationships between college education and patterns of heavy drinking from early adolescence to adulthood for Caucasians and African-Americans. We analyzed data from 9,988 non-Hispanic Caucasian and African-American participants from all four waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Growth curve modeling tested differences in rates of change and levels of heavy drinking from ages 13 to 31 years among non-college youth, college withdrawers, 2-year college graduates, and 4-year college graduates, and compared these differences for Caucasians and African-Americans. There were significant racial differences in relationships between college education with both changes in and levels of heavy drinking. Rates of change of heavy drinking differed significantly across the college education groups examined for Caucasians but not for African-Americans. In addition, Caucasians who graduated from 4-year colleges showed the highest levels of heavy drinking after age 20 years, although differences among the four groups diminished by the early 30s. In contrast, for African-Americans, graduates from 2- or 4-year colleges did not show higher levels of heavy drinking from ages 20 to 31 years than the non-college group. Instead, African-American participants who withdrew from college without an associate's, bachelor's, or professional degree consistently exhibited the highest levels of heavy drinking from ages 26 to 31 years. The relationship between college education and increased levels of heavy drinking in young adulthood is significant for Caucasians but not African-Americans. Conversely, African-Americans are likely to be more adversely affected than are Caucasians by college withdrawal.

Educational Paths and Substance Use From Adolescence Into Early Adulthood

This study examined how substance use trajectories from ages 15 to 23 in a community sample (N=921) were related to educational pathways. Rates of heavy drinking converged across different paths, but starting college at a 2-year college before transferring to a 4-year college was related to later increase in drinking after high school. Higher future educational attainment was negatively associated with high school marijuana use, but marijuana use increased after high school for individuals who went to 4-year colleges compared to those who did not. Noncollege youth had the highest rates of daily cigarette smoking throughout adolescence and early adulthood, while college dropouts had higher rates of smoking than college students who did not drop out. The findings support the need for universal prevention for early adult heavy drinking, addressing increases in drinking and marijuana use in 4-year colleges, and targeting marijuana use and cigarette smoking interventions at noncollege youth and college dropouts.

Civic Engagement and the Transition to Adulthood

Constance Flanagan and Peter Levine survey research on civic engagement among U.S. adolescents and young adults. Civic engagement, they say, is important both for the functioning of democracies and for the growth and maturation it encourages in young adults, but opportunities for civic engagement are not evenly distributed by social class or race and ethnicity. Today's young adults, note the authors, are less likely than those in earlier generations to exhibit many important characteristics of citizenship, raising the question of whether these differences represent a decline or simply a delay in traditional adult patterns of civic engagement. Flanagan and Levine also briefly discuss the civic and political lives of immigrant youth in the United States, noting that because these youth make up a significant share of the current generation of young adults, their civic engagement is an important barometer of the future of democracy. The authors next survey differences in civic participation for youth from different social, racial, and ethnic backgrounds. They explore two sets of factors that contribute to a lower rate of civic engagement among low-income and minority young adults. The first is cumulative disadvantage-unequal opportunities and influences before adulthood, especially parental education. The second is different institutional opportunities for civic engagement among college and non-college youth during the young-adult years. Flanagan and Levine survey various settings where young adults spend time-schools and colleges, community organizations, faith-based institutions, community organizing and activism projects, and military and other voluntary service programs-and examine the opportunities for civic engagement that each affords. As the transition to adulthood has lengthened, say the authors, colleges have become perhaps the central institution for civic incorporation of younger generations. But no comparable institution exists for young adults who do not attend college. Opportunities for sustained civic engagement by year-long programs such as City Year could provide an alternative opportunity for civic engagement for young adults from disadvantaged families, allowing them to stay connected to mainstream opportunities and to adults who could mentor and guide their way.

Sexual Risk Behavior 6 Months Post–High School: Associations with College Attendance, Living with a Parent, and Prior Risk Behavior

Purpose This study examined sexual risk behavior (SRB) among a community sample of youth in the fall after their senior year of high school. The primary goal was to examine associations between college and residential status and 3 measures of SRB: casual sex, inconsistent condom use, and high-risk sex. Method Data were from 834 participants in the Raising Healthy Children project who were surveyed annually during high school and in the fall of the post–high school year. Results Of the participants, 30% reported inconsistent condom use, 23% reported casual sex, and 11% reported high-risk sex in the fall after high school. Youth in college were less likely than noncollege youth to report SRB. The protective association between college attendance on one hand and casual sex and intermittent condom use on the other was fully explained by high school substance use, risky sex, and academic performance. The protective effect of college attendance on high-risk sex was partly explained by high school predictors. Living with parents at age 18–19 years was not related to SRB. Conclusions Results from this study indicate that the higher prevalence of SRB among noncollege youth is largely a continuation of patterns of higher risk behavior and lower academic performance during high school. College attendance was protective for the most high-risk sex measure. Findings suggest that human immunodeficiency virus and sexually transmitted infection prevention efforts are needed among young adults who are not attending college and among high school students who have earned poor grades, used drugs, or engaged in SRB.

Psychopathology associated with drinking and alcohol use disorders in the college and general adult populations

This paper examines the associations between past-year drinking status and the prevalence of 15 different past-year anxiety, mood and personality disorders, using a large ( n = 43,093) nationally representative sample of the U.S. population. The prevalence of these disorders and their associations with drinking are compared for college students 18–29 years of age, other youth 18–29 years of age, and adults 30 years of age and older. After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and past-year tobacco and illicit drug use, only drinkers with alcohol dependence experienced an excess risk of a mood or anxiety disorder among college students 18–29 years of age, OR = 2.4. In contrast, the excess risk of any mood or anxiety disorder associated with drinking status among non-college youth varied from an OR of 1.8 for non-binge drinkers to 4.7 for drinkers with alcohol dependence. Among persons 30 years of age and older, the degree of excess risk was slightly lower but still higher than those for college students, OR = 1.5–3.8. Similarly, the excess odds of any personality disorder associated with drinking varied from 1.6 to 5.0 for the younger, non-college group and from 1.5 to 3.8 for the older adults, with no significant effect observed among college students. Factors that may help explain the weaker association of psychopathology and drinking in the college population include selectivity and greater availability of social and treatment resources that serve as alternatives to self-medicating the symptoms of psychological distress with alcohol.

Studying Youth Politics: A Reply to Flacks

As a 1960s prominent activist and researcher for over two decades focusing on social psychology of Sixties Dick Flacks interweaves the activist-researcher perspectives in his commentary. To Flacks, 1960s means left-wing activism as has been the case with many researchers concerned with the 1960s generation, either during the 1960s or thereafter. Despite the research and media attention given to leftist activists, the 1960s generation represented more than the political activity of youth on the radical left. With the recent resurgence of interest in the 1960s generation, criticism has been leveled at student activist research for concentrating primarily on leftist youth and neglecting political right-wing and mainstream youth who also were politically active in the 1960s (Chronicle of Higher Education, April, 6, 1988, pp. A4-5). In conducting research on student activism, political generations, and youth politics for more than 20 years, it has been our position that youth movements in general and the 1960s generation in particular can best be understood from a comparative perspective. We have compared the political orientations of young people who are: (1) members of groups on the political left versus those on the political right; (2) radical versus moderate activists; (3) activists versus nonactivists; (4) the politics of young people in various strata of society, such as college versus noncollege youth; (4) youthful attitudes and behavior during periods of heightened political generational activity versus times of relatively little youthful political activity; and (5) the status of youth and youth movements around the world from the nineteenth century into contemporary times. In order to address Flacks' commentary, we first underscore some of the major similarities in our research and findings over the past two decades, followed by a discussion of Flacks' observations. Next, several themes are outlined suggested by our research from the 1960s through the 1980s. A brief assessment of youth politics as an area of inquiry concludes our reply.

Vocational Education and Earnings for White Males: New Evidence from Longitudinal Data

Vocational education for non-college youth is often advocated on the grounds that it provides individuals with skills that are more marketable than those they could obtain in an academic program. Recent studies by Grasso and Shea [5], Gustman and Steinmeier [6] and Meyer and Wise [9], however, found no evidence of the alleged earnings superiority of young men who had majored in vocational education in high school. Wilms [10] similarly did not observe a positive impact of postsecondary vocational training on subsequent (short term) labor market success. Not all the recent evidence is unsupportive, though. Fredland and Little [3] suggested that other studies had directed their focus on experiences during youth, and thereby did not allow enough time for the full effects of vocational education to be felt. When they examined Parnes data for 45-49 year-old men in 1966,' they observed a substantial earnings premium for those who reported using any of several types of vocational training (including the kind provided by the military) on their current jobs. While the emphasis of this study differed, the empirical work was similar in many respects to that performed by Freeman [4]. Using almost identical data,2 he had earlier found most forms of postsecondary vocational training (but not that supplied by the military) to be effective in later life, although the magnitude of returns varied by curricula. Whether or not these studies have produced complementary or contradictory findings depends upon the comparability of the results. The reconciliation suggested by Fredland and Little crucially depends upon the existence of a particular time profile of earnings. But none of these studies investigated the same individuals at different points in their life cycle. Grasso and Shea, Gustman and Steinmeier, and Meyer and Wise all concentrated on high school vocational training received during the 1960s and early 1970s. Fredland and Little, and Freeman, on the other hand, primarily examined postsecondary vocational training which was administered as early as World War II. Differences may have appeared in the results for at least three reasons unrelated to the lifetime profile of earnings: the type of individual who receives vocational training may have changed over time as more and more high school students went on to college; the 1. Parnes data in this instance refer to the National Longitudinal Survey of 14-24 Year Old Males, conducted

Energy Conservation and Attitudes Toward Technology

Energy Conservation and Attitudes Toward Technology

College and noncollege youth politics in 1972: An application of Mannheim's generation unit model

This article examines youth politics employing Mannheim's theory of generation units. Specifically, a multivariate model was constructed to test and compare sets of social location and consciousness factors explaining political behavior among two random samples of college and noncollege youth. Just prior to the 1972 presidential election, 373 Syracuse University students and 134 local Syracuse residents between the ages of 18 and 25 were surveyed to determine their presidential candidate support and urge to participate in a demonstration. Path analysis was used to examine the direct, indirect, and total effects of the variables in the model. Results indicated that (1) the relationships predicting youth politics differed within and between the two youth groups; (2) 55% of the variance in presidential candidate support and 33% of the variance in urge to demonstrate were explained by the variables in the college student model, and the comparable figures for the noncollege group were 39% and 38%, respectively; (3) family status and personal political attitudes differentiated candidate support and urge to demonstrate among college students, while demographic characteristics, family status, and institutional confidence explained considerable variance in politics among the noncollege youth. The form of Mannheim's generation unit model provided a useful tool for comparing youth groups within the same generation; the contents await replication and verification.

RESEARCH: College and Noncollege Youth Values

RESEARCH: College and Noncollege Youth Values

The Occupations of Non-College Youth

The world of work is placing increasing premium upon advanced levels of education and specialized types of training. Yet, 75-80 percent of American youth are not completing college degrees. What is the occupational destiny of youth with differing levels of education? For what part of the occupational world is attainment dependent upon education beyond high school? What are the characteristics of youth who reach differing levels of occupational attainment? In the spring of 1957, a state-wide inquiry gathered information from over 35,000 graduating seniors of Wisconsin's public and private high schools. About 95 percent of all graduates from about 95 percent of Wisconsin's high schools participated. This information included statements about educational plans beyond high school, statements of occupational aspirations, and much background data about the graduates, their parents, and their school experiences (Little, 1958). During the calendar years 1964 and early 1965, follow-up inquiries were directed to the parents of a probability sample of about one-third of the male youth of this 1957 crop of graduates. Usable returns were received from 85 percent of the sample. Of the 4,186 graduates about whom information was received, 378 were attending a vocational school or college; 447 were in military service; and 58 were unemployed. The total number for whom occupational attainment scores were available was then 3,378.

The Occupations of Non-College Youth

The Occupations of Non-College Youth