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What do teenage boys read, and why? Little study has been done specifically of boys′ reading habits, leading to the suspicion that much public library selection for this group has been based on guesswork and intuition. This study sought to fill this gap in our knowledge through 60 one‐to‐one structured interviews of a stratified sample of 13‐15‐year‐old boys, approached through four Essex secondary schools. Discovers that reading compares favourably with other leisure pursuits, most boys reading regularly for 40 minutes per day on average, or one book per fortnight. Selecting fiction by genre, author and series, but chiefly by the blurb, boys are diverse in their tastes. Fifteen‐year‐olds read predominantly adult novels or have effectively ceased reading. The boys read reflectively, and are equally divided between those who imagine the story unfolding in their imaginations, those who imagine their own involvement, and those who do neither. Finds that the use of non‐fiction is lower and less important to teenage boys than had been believed. Draws implications for library provision for this group.

Shares initial results of a two‐year project commissioned by the Department of Health to support the needs of boys and young men in sex education and sexual health care. Draws on expertise provided via questionnaire responses from 130 sex educators; a series of consultations with boys and young men aged five to 16, primary and secondary school teachers, health promotion workers, youth workers and those working in community settings with boys and young men. Offers principles of practice for working with boys and young men. Provides a training exercise which examines some of the influences and attitudes to boys and young men which may affect a professional’s work with them.

School bullying is an important social problem with serious consequences. Many studies suggest that involvement in bullying (as a perpetrator or a victim) is associated with undesirable short‐term effects on the physical and psychological health of children and with undesirable long‐term effects on their future psychosocial adjustment as adults. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether bullying perpetration predicts later criminal offending and whether bullying victimization predicts later depression.

The paper analyses data from the Pittsburgh Youth Study in which 503 boys who were originally assessed at age 6‐7 years have been followed up to age 19, with yearly or half‐yearly assessments.

Bullying perpetration in one age range, according to boys and mothers, predicted delinquency (reported by boys) in a later age range, and this relationship held up after controlling for ten major risk factors measured in an earlier age range. Bullying perpetration, according to boys, was the stronger predictor of delinquency. Bullying victimization (being bullied) in one age range predicted depression (reported by boys, mothers and teachers) in a later age range, and this relationship also held up after controlling for ten earlier risk factors. Bullying victimization according to mothers was the stronger predictor of depression.

The paper provides useful evidence which leads to the conclusion that bullying perpetration is followed by an increased risk of delinquency, and that bullying victimization is followed by an increased risk of depression.

This paper is the first to use the individual level, longitudinal catch-up growth of boys and girls in a historical population to measure their relative deprivation. The data is drawn from two government schools, the Marcella Street Home (MSH) in Boston, MA (1889–1898), and the Ashford School of the West London School District (1908–1917). The paper provides an extensive discussion of the two schools including the characteristics of the children, their representativeness, selection bias and the conditions in each school. It also provides a methodological introduction to measuring children’s longitudinal catch-up growth. After analysing the catch-up growth of boys and girls in the schools, it finds that there were no substantial differences between the catch-up growth by gender. Thus, these data suggest that there were not major health disparities between boys and girls in late-nineteenth-century America and early-twentieth-century Britain.

Black boys report experiencing more school-based racial discrimination than any other group (Butler-Barnes et al., 2019). Additionally, Black boys are viewed as older and less innocent than their peers beginning as early as 10 years old (Goff et al., 2014). Black boys are also suspended and expelled at much higher rates than other students (Graves & Wang, 2022). As such, there needs to be an investment in asset-based research designed to understand the factors that can help Black boys cope with these perceptions. Consequently, this chapter will discuss strengths based protective factors that will aid in the promotion of positive outcomes in Black boys.

This study examines the experiences and perceptions of boys and girls vis-à-vis racial integration in two former segregated South African secondary schools. The study is presented in a twofold way since it explores the ethnographic methodological understanding and dilemmas of conducting ethnographic race research in South Africa, and the gendered differences and identities through the manner in which the boys and the girls mediated racial integration in a micro school setting. These two dimensions are tied together in order to present a coherent relationship from the conceptual understanding of ethnographic race research to the dominant themes that emerged in the process of generating that knowledge. The study is part of a Ph.D. project, which was conducted in order to understand how the process of racial integration was experienced and perceived by students in two South African Secondary schools. In 1996 the South African government passed legislation desegregating segregated schools. However, a number of exclusive schools had already opened their doors to non-white students in the 1990’s. There had been studies conducted on these former segregated schools, which mirrored different dimensions from racial desegregation of schools to complex processes of racial integration (Bhana, 1994; Carrim & Mkwanazi, 1993; Dolby, 2001; Metcalfe, 1991; Valley & Dalamba, 1999). This study moved from a premise to study racially integrated schools with a relatively stable reputation in order to find out what is happening today in these schools vis-à-vis the process and extent of racial desegregation. What emerged at the end was a dialectic relationship between the gendered reaction to integration and the dominant school ethos.

Results from international large-scale assessments, such as PISA surveys, suggest that boys do better in math and science, whereas girls do better in reading. How do gender gaps vary across subjects, when estimated simultaneously? Building on the work of Tsai, Smith, and Hauser (2017), we answer this question by applying a multilevel-MIMIC model that enables us to estimate gender gaps in two ways: gender differences in the effects of observed family and school factors on math, science, and reading scores; and the “adjusted” gender gaps in test scores across all three subjects after controlling for observables. We apply the model to 2012 PISA data of students aged 15–16 and enrolled in 9th or 10th grade in three East Asian (Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan) and three Western countries (USA, Germany, and the Czech Republic) that represent both similar and different types of school systems. Our findings indicate that the gender gap in math or science achievement in Western countries, favoring boys, does not necessarily apply to the East Asian countries examined here, while all three East Asian countries exhibit similar features of gender reading gaps in the 10th grade. There is evidence indicating that observed background and school factors impact boys’ and girls’ achievement in a similar way in USA, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and the Czech Republic, but not in Germany. Overall, gender differences in family and school influences do not account for gender differences in academic achievement in any of the six countries.

This study is a comparison of male and female delinquent behaviors utilizing a large sample in a test of social control theory.

A sample of 8,363 adolescent 10th graders was drawn from the U.S. National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS). The sample consisted of 3,774 males and 4,589 females. This work utilized logistic regression and ordinary least squares to determine whether adolescent behaviors such as smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, using marijuana, and other delinquent behaviors are linked to weak social bonds.

The findings of this study provide limited substantiation of social control theory for both sexes. Females who were found to have strong social bonds were less likely to engage in delinquent behaviors than males. For both sexes, the strongest element of the social bond was the element of belief.

These results may be specific to the United States.

Understanding contributing factors to adolescent substance use and delinquency will assist in developing social policy that will support families.

This study provides insight into the differentiated nature of the social bond for males and females. Knowing that belief is an integral component in determining the strength of the social bond will aid in the development of social policies.

How much work is “too much” for children aged 10–14 in Egypt? Our narrow focus here is on “work that does not interfere with school attendance.” For girls, work includes time spent in household chores and subsistence activities. We estimate simultaneous hours of work and school attendance equations as a joint Tobit and Probit model, then conduct simulations. Substantial negative effects on attendance are observed above about 10 hours per week (girls) and 14 hours (boys). For girls, heavy household work appears causal, but for boys, it seems that poor schooling leads to boys' dropout, then subsequent work.