Parental Involvement in Career Development

Most deaf high school graduates in this study were actively learning about careers and making future plans. Most of their parents encouraged these activities through a variety of ways. These results were derived from interviews with 189 deaf seniorsin16 high schools and from a mail survey of their parents. Findings indicated that a majority of seniors had discussed their future plans with family members and most parents supported these plans. A majority of parents had also engaged in six types of activities to stimulate the career development of their deaf sons and daughters. Parents also reported numerous other ways they had assisted their deaf teenagers to prepare for more education and a future job. However, almost 75 present of parents reported the need for four kinds of career planning information. Implications for enhancing communication between parents and professionals as well as training parents were discussed

Analyzing surveys on deaf adults: Implications for survey research on persons with disabilities

Differences in operationalizing definitions of disability, variations in methods of data collection and diversities in salient characteristics of disabled persons are generic problems in conducting social research surveys with persons who have disabilities. These problems are of concern not only to social scientists seeking to improve survey methods, but they also have practical significance to decision makers needing high quality information to guide social policies that influence the provision of health care, education and social services to persons with chronic impairments. Reports of 41 surveys on deaf adults in the United States and Canada conducted between 1959 and 1981 were analyzed to determine how rates of response, a key indicator of reliability of survey data, are affected by three methods of data collection, degree of verification efforts, scope of the sample and socio-demographic characteristics of those in the survey populations. Measurable results are provided so that planners of future surveys can correct for anticipated rates of sample attrition under various survey conditions. Other data indicate that trade-offs can be made between changes in the size of the sample and method of data collection to lead to more effective surveys. Important terms such as deafness, deaf population and deaf community are discussed as these relate to interpreting the results of survey studies on deaf adults. Discussion is also given to conducting social surveys with groups of individuals having other disabilities besides loss of hearing.

Parental Involvement in Career Development

Most deaf high school graduates in this study were actively learning about careers and making future plans. Most of their parents encouraged these activities through a variety of ways. These results were derived from interviews with 189 deaf seniorsin16 high schools and from a mail survey of their parents. Findings indicated that a majority of seniors had discussed their future plans with family members and most parents supported these plans. A majority of parents had also engaged in six types of activities to stimulate the career development of their deaf sons and daughters. Parents also reported numerous other ways they had assisted their deaf teenagers to prepare for more education and a future job. However, almost 75 present of parents reported the need for four kinds of career planning information. Implications for enhancing communication between parents and professionals as well as training parents were discussed

Causes and Consequences of Public Attitudes Toward Abortion: A Review and Research Agenda

This article provides a critical review of empirical research on attitudes toward abortion among mass publics in the United States, with a view toward suggesting promising avenues for future research. We identify three such themes: Accounting for pro-life movement among mass attitudes in recent years, when the composition of the U.S. population would seem to trend in a pro-choice direction; explaining the sources of party polarization of the abortion issue; and anticipating changes in abortion attitudes which might result from public debate over human cloning