Brief Report: Autism-Specific College Support Programs: Differences Across Geography and Institutional Type

Many postsecondary institutions have begun their own Autism-Specific College Support Programs (ASPs) to integrate the emergence of autistic students into college and offer supports aiding their success (Longtin in J Postsecond Educ Disabil 27(1):63–72, 2014), yet little is known about these programs. We conducted an exhaustive, year-long search of all postsecondary institutions in the United States to identify all ASPs. Although we identified a total of 74 programs located in 29 states, our analyses suggest these are unavailable to students in large portions of the country. When they are available, these programs appear to be disproportionately located at 4-year institutions, public institutions, and in the Mid-East. Our study highlights inequities based on institutional type and geography, as well as offers a complete public list of ASPs.

DYNAMICS OF SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF RELIGION AND RELIGIOSITY DURING THE PANDEMIC

The article examines the metamorphoses that occurred in the religious practices of various denominations during the pandemic. Through the strengthening, thanks to the pandemic, the dynamics of the social functions of religion (integrative, communicative, normative-regulatory, legitimizing), the author examines the changes in the structure of modern religiosity, highlighting and characterizing three main types: institutional, individual and individual-institutional religiosity. The author pays special attention to the individual-institutional type of religiosity, believing that the carriers of this particular type of religiosity experienced the least psychological problems in connection with the closure of churches, mosques, prayer houses. Analyzing the social functions of religion, and, in particular, the communicative function, the author examines in detail the process of virtualization of religion, which has significantly intensified in the last year and a half (“cyberreligion”, “online religion”), indicates a close relationship between the individual-institutional type of religiosity and the dynamics of communicative the functions of religion, reflected, in particular, in the strengthening of the virtualization of religion. The author sees the key tendency in the change in the structure of religiosity in the change in the ratio between its three main types towards the percentage increase in the carriers of individual-institutional religiosity.

School and Parental Factors Associated with One-Night Stand, Condom Use at Sexual Debut and Multiple Sexual Partners

In many countries, risky sexual behaviour appears to have become more common among sexually active young adults due to increasing acceptance of pre-marital sexual behaviour. This poses threat to the sexual and reproductive health of those who engage in same. This study investigated the possible influence of school and parental factors such as time of sexual debut (before or after admission), institutional type, accommodation type (whether campus or off-campus), parental marriage type, parental counselling and family of socialisation on three risky sexual behaviours. These are one-night stand, condom use at first sex and multiple sexual partners. The study adopted cross-sectional survey method. A total of 433 respondents were selected from three stratified tertiary institutions in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study found that institutional type and parents' marriage significantly influenced involvement in one-night stand. The age at sexual debut and parents' marriage type are associated with the use of condom at first sex. Also, while students of polytechnic had more sexual partners than their counterparts in the university and college of education (F: 16.849; p: 0.001), those living inside campus were significantly more likely to have multiple sexual partners than those outside campus (T: -1.995; p: 0.047). The study recommends the need for the management of institutes of higher learning and accommodation providers to improve their physical environment to discourage risky sexual behaviours, and to sensitise young people. Also, parent-child discussion on sex-related matters from both parents especially in polygynous homes is encouraged.

Problematizing Parenting: The Regulation of Parenting Practices within Reception Centres for Syrian Refugees in Ireland

This article examines the problematization and regulation of parenting practices within reception centres accommodating Syrian asylum-seeking and refugee parents who had recently arrived in the Republic of Ireland through relocation and resettlement schemes. Based on qualitative research, the article demonstrates how reception-centre staff often assumed a regulatory role over parenting in a number of different ways: by informing and warning; watching and regulating; taking on parental roles; and referring. The findings suggest that parents are subject to intrusive observations and interventions within reception centres. This happens in a context where refugee families are living in institutional-type ‘collective’ accommodation staffed by personnel who generally lack the requisite qualifications and competencies to undertake the complex roles involved. An undue burden is placed on personnel to respond to situations for which they do not have the necessary skills, resulting in negative consequences for parents and children. Ultimately, this article points to the structural causes of these issues, namely the unsuitability of institutional-type accommodation for family life.

“There Is Never a Break”: The Hidden Curriculum of Professionalization for Engineering Faculty

The purpose of this exploratory special issue study was to understand the hidden curriculum (HC), or the unwritten, unofficial, or unintended lessons, around the professionalization of engineering faculty across institutions of higher education. Additionally, how engineering faculty connected the role of HC awareness, emotions, self-efficacy, and self-advocacy concepts was studied. A mixed-method survey was disseminated to 55 engineering faculties across 54 institutions of higher education in the United States. Quantitative questions, which centered around the influences that gender, race, faculty rank, and institutional type played in participants’ responses was analyzed using a combination of decision tree analysis with chi-square and correlational analysis. Qualitative questions were analyzed by a combination of tone-, open-, and focused-coding. The findings pointed to the primary roles that gender and institutional type (e.g., Tier 1) played in issues of fulfilling the professional expectations of the field. Furthermore, it was found that HC awareness and emotions and HC awareness and self-efficacy had moderate positive correlations, whereas, compared to self-advocacy, it had weak, negative correlations. Together, the findings point to the complex understandings and intersectional lived realities of many engineering faculty and hopes that through its findings can create awareness of the challenges and obstacles present in these professional environments.