Energy Drink Consumption Among Finnish Adolescents: Prevalence, Associated Background Factors, Individual Resources, and Family Factors

Objectives: Energy drink consumption among adolescents has become a notable global phenomenon, and has been associated with numerous negative health outcomes. In order to understand the popularity of energy drinks among adolescents, and to target interventions, it is important to identify the determinants underpinning consumption.Methods: The nationally representative data (cross-sectional) were drawn from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) surveys, conducted in 2014 and 2018, each comprising 13- and 15-year-old Finnish adolescents (n = 7405).Results: Weekly energy drink consumption increased among Finnish adolescents between 2014 (18.2%) and 2018 (24.4%), especially among girls. In 2018, boys typically consumed more than girls, and 15-year-olds more than 13-year-olds. Moreover, in 2018, weekly energy drink consumption was more prevalent among 15-year-old adolescents with a non-academic educational aspiration (46.0%) than among adolescents with an academic aspiration (18.3%). Gender (boys more than girls), older age (only in 2018), less parental monitoring, lower school achievement, and a lower level of health literacy explained around 28% of the variance in weekly energy drink consumption in both years.Conclusion: According to the findings, interventions to decrease the energy drink consumption, should be targeted at all adolescents, but especially at those with fewer individual resources. The interventions should also pay attention to family-level factors.

Remixing Resilience: A Critical Examination of Urban Middle School Learning Environments among Resilient African American Learners

This study examines a sample of African American students attending urban middle schools in a Southern city, and considers their perceptions of learning environments within mathematics classrooms. This study concluded that variables like Academic Self-Concept, Mathematics Anxiety, Satisfaction, Involvement, and Academic Aspiration varied significantly among higher and lower performing students. These variables are informed by the classic resilience literature on learning environment that tends to be less culturally affirming. In an effort to move resilience theory away from racial ideologies, we reconceptualize resilience as a cultural trait common among African American learners that should not be conceptualized dichotomously nor hierarchically

Leading in Higher Education

This chapter considers the higher education leader’s perspective in conjunction with the following themes: (1) the leader as a change agent, responding to mega trends (globalization, digitalization and the demands of knowledge-based economies); (2) the challenge of choosing the right gear of change (evolution, rapid evolution, revolution) whilst executing transformations; (3) the recognition at all levels (macro, meta, micro) of the value of diversity, and understanding that institutions are typically a blend of three ultra-types (knowledge for the sake of knowledge; utilitarian, accountable institution; sustainable enterprises) and the importance of matching leadership; (4) understanding the alignment of ‘ABC’ (academic aspiration, business, communities) whilst enlarging C through emotional engagement; and (5) the imperative to secure funding to achieve strategic objectives and institutional sustainability (fundraising, public–private partnerships, cooperative constructions). Current funding realities suggest big is truly beautiful but this risks diminishing diversity.

Varied starting points and pathways

This article argues that the language of ‘diversity’ does multidirectional work – highlighting issues of social justice, as well as obscuring the varied experiences of those gathered underneath its umbrella (Ahmed, 2012). It builds on existing debates about widening participation in higher education, arguing that nuanced accounts of ‘diversity’ and doctoral aspiration are required. We present a duoethnographic text about two doctoral students’ pathways to study. While both students may be positioned as ‘diverse’ within their institution’s equity policy – as a sexuality minority student, and a working-class woman of Māori and European heritage – they reveal dissimilar expectations of what university study was, or could be. These histories of imagining the university shaped their trajectories into and through doctoral study. Drawing on Appadurai’s (2004) work, we argue that aspiration can be a transformative force for ‘diverse’ doctoral students, even if the map that informs aspiration is unevenly distributed. We then investigate why the idea of the ‘academic good life’ might have such aspirational pull for politically-engaged practitioners of minority discourse (Chuh, 2013). The article makes two primary contributions. First, we call for more multifaceted understandings of doctoral ‘diversity’, and for further reflection about the ways that social difference continues to shape academic aspiration. And second, we demonstrate the potential for duothenography to provide insights into the experiences of ourselves and an-Other through a shared examination of university imaginings.

Parental Socio-Economic Status and Higher Academic Aspiration of Senior Secondary School Students in Cross River State Nigeria

This study sought to investigate the influence of parental socio-economic status (SES) on higher academic aspiration among senior secondary school students in Cross River State of Nigeria with emphasis on Ogoja Education Zone. To do this, three research questions and three hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The research questions were based on three variables of parental educational status, occupation and material wealth. The research instrument was a 17 item researcher-made “Parental Socio-economic status and higher academic aspiration of senior secondary school students questionnaire”. It was built on a four-point modified Likert scale. Samples comprised of 600 senior secondary three (SS3) students at the rate of 30 per school from the five local government areas in the education zone. Data were analyzed using simple percentages. The result of research question one which sought to determine the influence of parental educational status on their children’s higher educational aspirations shows that 72.16% of the respondents affirmed that parental educational status has significantly high influence on their wards educational aspiration. Research Question two was on the influence of Parental occupation on their children’s academic aspiration. It had a positive response of 37.99% which shows negative influence. The finding on Research Question three shows that 62% of the respondents were positive about the influence of parental material wealth on their academic aspiration. Based on the above findings conclusion and recommendations were drawn.

Parental Socio-Economic Status and Higher Academic Aspiration of Senior Secondary School Students in Cross River State Nigeria

This study sought to investigate the influence of parental socio-economic status (SES) on higher academic aspiration among senior secondary school students in Cross River State of Nigeria with emphasis on Ogoja Education Zone. To do this, three research questions and three hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The research questions were based on three variables of parental educational status, occupation and material wealth. The research instrument was a 17 item researcher-made “Parental Socio-economic status and higher academic aspiration of senior secondary school students questionnaire”. It was built on a four-point modified Likert scale. Samples comprised of 600 senior secondary three (SS3) students at the rate of 30 per school from the five local government areas in the education zone. Data were analyzed using simple percentages. The result of research question one which sought to determine the influence of parental educational status on their children’s higher educational aspirations shows that 72.16% of the respondents affirmed that parental educational status has significantly high influence on their wards educational aspiration. Research Question two was on the influence of Parental occupation on their children’s academic aspiration. It had a positive response of 37.99% which shows negative influence. The finding on Research Question three shows that 62% of the respondents were positive about the influence of parental material wealth on their academic aspiration. Based on the above findings conclusion and recommendations were drawn.