Perceptions of Peer Sexual Behavior: Do Adolescents Believe in a Sexual Double Standard?

BACKGROUND The purpose of the study was to (1) examine attitudes of adolescents toward peer models having sex or choosing abstinence, and (2) determine whether a “double standard” in perception existed concerning adolescent abstinence and sexual behavior. METHODS Adolescents (N = 173) completed questionnaires that included 1 of 6 randomly assigned vignettes that described male and female peer models 3 ways: (1) no information about model\u27s sexual behavior, (2) model in love but choosing abstinence, and (3) model in love and having sex. Participants read the vignette to which they had been assigned and responded to statements about the peer model. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance. RESULTS Results did not show evidence of a sexual double standard among male participants but did show some evidence of a sexual double standard among female participants. Additionally, both male and female participants evaluated more harshly peer models that were having sex than peer models that chose abstinence. CONCLUSIONS Findings provide insight concerning the lack of a sexual double standard among male participants, the existence, to some degree, of a sexual double standard among female participants, and demonstrate the existence of a social cost to both young men and young women for choosing to have sex

Teacher Thinking Associated With Science-Specific Mentor Preparation

Framed by sociocultural theory, the purpose of the study was to understand the cultural tools used by science teachers when leaning to mentor and how tool use may lead to the construction of new understandings about mentoring. The participants were 37 experienced teachers enrolled in a federally funded science-specific mentor preparation program. Data took the form of interview transcripts, electronic bulletin board postings, and written cases. Program participants were found to use a range of tools to mediate their thinking about science teacher mentoring. Analysis of data revealed that the participants used the discourse of science teaching as well as such tools as classroom observation strategies and interpersonal mentoring approaches, to mediate their thinking about mentoring. The participants tools also included images that mediated their responses to specific mentoring challenges and dilemmas that highlighted for them contradictions in their thinking about mentoring. The cultural tools used by the science teachers when learning to mentor provide insight into how they think about science teacher mentoring and the nature of the professional learning experiences needed to enable them to develop as mentor