School Type Differences Research Articles

School type differences in attainment of developmental goals in students with visual impairment and sighted peers

The present study analyzed whether the perceived attainment of developmental goals differs by school type and between adolescents with visual impairments and sighted peers. We created a matched-pair design with 98 German students from the middle school track and 98 from the highest school track; half of the members of each group were visually impaired. Students from the middle school track reported a higher attainment of identity development, career choice, and gender role awareness than students from the highest school track. Furthermore, students with visual impairment were less progressed with peer-group integration and forming intimate relationships than sighted students, but they reported higher levels of attainment of skills that are important for their future profession. However, we did not find an overall interaction effect between school type and vision status on the perceived attainment of developmental goals. The observed school type differences can be explained by the fact that students from the middle school track face the transition from school to work earlier. Implications for practice are discussed.

Gender, ethnic and school type differences in overweight and energy balance-related behaviours among Dutch adolescents

The aim of this study was to investigate gender, ethnic and school type differences in overweight and energy balance-related behaviours: snack, soft drink and breakfast consumption, walking, bicycling, and playing sports during leisure time, active commuting to school, television viewing and computer use among 12-15-year-old adolescents. Cross-sectional data on weight status and energy balance-related behaviours were obtained from 1 206 adolescents (2005-06). Energy balance-related behaviours were self-reported and body mass index was calculated from measured height and weight. Gender, ethnic and school type differences in weight status and behaviours were examined with multi-level logistic regression analyses. Overweight and unfavourable energy balance-related behaviours were more likely among youth from non-Western ethnic backgrounds and those attending vocational schools. Analyses stratified by ethnicity showed that girls from non-Western ethnic backgrounds were more likely to be overweight (OR = 1.5) and to report not bicycling (OR = 2.4) and watching more than two hours of television (OR = 2.3) compared with boys from non-Western ethnic backgrounds. Vocational students from Western ethnic backgrounds were more likely to report high levels of soft drink consumption (OR = 3.2), watching television (OR = 2.9) and computer use (OR = 2.1) compared with higher-level education students from Western ethnic backgrounds. The study findings indicate important ethnic and educational differences in overweight and energy balance-related behaviours. Future research should focus on what kind of interventions work and for which target groups they work, taking demographic variables, such as gender, ethnicity, school type into account.

Gender, ethnic and school type differences in overweight and energy balance-related behaviours among Dutch adolescents

Gender, ethnic and school type differences in overweight and energy balance-related behaviours among Dutch adolescents

Age and school-type differences in children's beliefs about school performance

Age and school-type differences (primary school and three types of secondary school) in self-related beliefs about ability, effort, and difficulty were investigated in a study of 1723 Berlin youth. Consistent with selective ability-stratified schooling, multi-group structural equation models revealed: (1) mean-level belief differences reflecting assimilation effects among secondary school students, (2) belief variances were mostly narrower among secondary school students reflecting restricted social comparison opportunities, and (3) school type moderated relationships between beliefs. Primary school students thought ability was fixed, that effort paid off, and they used normative task difficulty for gauging how effortful they were. Haupt-/Realschule and Gesamtschule students thought they were less effortful and put in less effort. Haupt-/Realschule student achievement was unrelated to their agency belief in ability and personal difficulty, reflecting a pattern of educational goal disengagement. Gymnasium school students seemed to maximize the use of their ability through effort.

Do Substance Use and Delinquency have Differential Associations with Adolescents’ Peer Relations?

Despite their potentially serious short- and long-term risks, developmental theorists have argued that risk behaviours may play important constructive roles in adolescent development. The present study hypothesised that adolescent substance use, but not delinquency, would be associated with positive peer relations. Subjects were 491 German adolescents participating in the Bielefeld Longitudinal Youth Survey who completed questionnaires during grades 7, 8, 9, and 10. Measures were adolescents’ self-reported substance use (alcohol, tobacco), delinquency (antisocial acts), and peer relations (peer involvement frequency, perceived peer group closeness, perceived position in the peer group, having a boy- or girlfriend). Repeated measures analyses of variance examined gender and school type differences in risk behaviour and peer relations across four occasions. Within-time, peer relations were positively related to substance use and, in a few cases, positively related to delinquency. As hypothesised, substance use predicted increases in the frequency and intensity of peer relations, but delinquency did not do so consistently. The pattern of results did not differ by gender or school type. The discussion focuses on the meaning of risky behaviours and differences between substance use and delinquency, and argues that prevention efforts must take seriously the positive functions served by risk behaviours.

School type as a discriminant in the geography of university applications in Great Britain

Just as differences in school type, especially between the state-provided and private (independent) sector, are well-engrained features of Britain's secondary education system so there are reasons to expect them to play a major part too in admissions to its universities. After reviewing the structure of the admissions system a number of reasons are suggested whereby this might be structured geographically and also by social class, as represented by school type, in distance-decay terms and in the differential image attraction of particular universities, irrespective of distance. Empirical investigation of these suggestions follows, examining the geographies of university application and acceptance (enrolment) for state and independent pupils in Great Britain, as of 1988. The final section draws some implications with respect to the current national policy of higher education expansion.