Challenges facing Youths

Challenges Facing the Youth in Today's Society Most of the problems facing today's youth are not restricted to any one ethnic or religious group, but affect young people generally. Most discussions on youth have focussed on issues such as drug abuse, crime, violence, sexuality and poverty. In addition to these, today's youth are afflicted by new challenges. These include: . An Identity Crisis: Who am I? 2. Lack of self confidence and low self esteem: I am worthless 3. A sense of hopelessness: Where am I going? 4. Confusion and ambiguity concerning moral issues: What is right and wrong? 5. The negative impact of the electronic media: Entertainment ? 6. Competitiveness in education: the uneven playing field: Excellence by whom? Not Me. Muslim Youth The Quran and life of the Prophet give numerous examples of outstanding youth. Islam praised the efforts of the youth in reviving religion through calling to the worship of God and fighting against disbelief as a form of backwardness and corruption. Indeed the image of Abraham peace be upon him in the Quran is one of extreme inspiration, enlightenment and uniqueness. It is the image of a young man rebelling against his people's decadent traditions, a young man defying the dominant values of his society even in the form of a tyrant king who claims divinity. His son Ismail inherited these qualities of sincerity in

  • Word count: 1532
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Discuss research into any two typesof understudied relationships (e.g. gay and lesbian; "electronic" friendships).

Discuss research into any two types of understudied relationships (e.g. gay and lesbian; "electronic" friendships). Gay and lesbian and electronic relationships are categorised as understudied because they are a fairly new concept of relationships which have been relatively understudied. Many people around the world are starting to accept this as a form of relationship, despite its newness. Bee (1994) highlighted the fact that there are misconceptions about homosexual relationships, but he concluded that there is in fact a similarity between heterosexual and homosexual relationships. This is supported by evidence from Kurdek and Schmitt (1986) who found that when they measured love for their partner and liking for their partner in married, heterosexual cohabiting, gay and lesbian couples, the mean level of love was high in all four types of couple. Another finding in this investigation was that liking for partners was fairly high in all four but lower in heterosexual cohabiting couples. The idea that heterosexual and homosexual relationships are similar is described by Kitzinger and Coyle (1995) as "liberal humanism". In homosexual relationships equality of status and power are the most important factors of the relationship. Blumstein & Schwartz (1983) found that lack of power equality played a dominant role in the ending of gay and lesbian relationships, but not of

  • Word count: 787
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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The rise of Single Parenthood in Contemporary Britain.

Charlene Douglas Sociology Block A Mr Shields The rise of Single Parenthood in Contemporary Britain Sociology has given us insights into our understanding of the rise in single parenthood in Contemporary Britain. Single-parent families have become increasingly common in Britain. According to government statistics, in 1961, 2 per cent of the population lived in households consisting of a lone parent with dependent children, but by 1998 this had more than tripled to 7 per cent. According to Hantrais and Letablier (1996), Britain has the second highest rate of lone parenthood in Europe, and is exceeded only by Denmark, and rates in countries such as France, Greece and Portugal are much lower than those of Britain are. Children may start their life living in a single-parent family. However, the single parent may well find a new partner and marry them or cohabit with them. The child will then end up living with two parents. It should also be noted that many children who live in a single-parent household do see and spend time with their other parent. Further more even in two-parent families, one parent (usually the mother) might be responsible for the vast majority of the childcare. There are many reasons why lone parenthood can come about. People who are married can become lone parents by divorce, separation or death of a spouse. Lone parents who have never been married

  • Word count: 1007
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Critically Compare the Factors that Affect Interpersonal Attraction and the Development of Relationships

Critically Compare the Factors that Affect Interpersonal Attraction and the Development of Relationships Interpersonal attraction is the attraction between people which often lead to friendships or romantic and sexual relationship between two people. This essay will aim to critically compare and evaluate the factors that affect interpersonal attraction leading to the development of long-term relationships, evaluating key research, which has been conducted in this area of social psychology. There are several reasons or motives underlying interpersonal attraction. The need for affiliation (naff), need for intimacy and avoidance of loneliness. Most humans are social animals who enjoy the company of others, therefore need to establish and maintain relationships with other fellow humans; this contact provides emotional support, a basis for social comparison and attention. The need for intimacy (nint) is a need to form and maintain close affectionate relationships with others and to share information about themselves and show concern for others. Physical closeness or proximity is an important factor in interpersonal attraction. In order to meet two people must share close proximity, this helps in forming a close relationship. Research by Festinger, et al (1950 see PIP P.690) and Sigall (1973, see Gross, p.409) demonstrate this proximity effect. Festinger, et al, found that within

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Mrs. Warren's profession - Creative writing.

Mrs. Warren's Profession Creative Writing (1st Draft) 0 years later in London, Vivie is married to a businessman, who shares the same interests as she. Vivie is now herself a mother of two children, but doest give up her job as an accountant at Honoria Fraser, so she does her work at home and is at the same time a housewife. This is a challenge for Vivie, but she manages perfectly well. One night in the children's bedroom... Children: Mommy, Mommy, tell us a good-night story! Vivie: Once upon a time, there was a little girl, who lived separated from her mother. She was brought up by foster-parents because her own mother didn't have time for her, so she never had a close relationship with her real mother. The little girl grew up with no beauty or romance in her life, she was only interested in factual things, especially mathematics, which was unconventional at that time. This might sound sad to other people, but this girl wasn't sad at all, she was satisfied with her own achievements and proud that she, as a woman, had made it so far in the male-dominated fields. She has reached her goals, she graduated from Cambridge with a wrangler and she was about to work for Honoria Fraser in London as an accountant. This girl was not like other girls, she was special and outstanding because she enjoyed working hard and getting paid for it. But then after 21 years her mother returned

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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"Everything that is legal is not necessarily ethical" Critically discuss this statement, drawing on your knowledge and understanding of ethical and legal issues relating to research with children and young people.

JACQUELYN KNIGHTON U4222403 TMA03 OPTION 1 - "Everything that is legal is not necessarily ethical" Critically discuss this statement, drawing on your knowledge and understanding of ethical and legal issues relating to research with children and young people. In considering this question it is first important to define what is meant by legal, what is legal and what is not legal or illegal. Then it will be necessary to define what is meant by ethical, does the term ethical have different connotations in different circumstances or does it mean different things to different people? How are both legal and ethical characterised with regard to research involving children and young people. Having done this it should be possible to consider the statement and conclude if it is true or an exaggeration. Masson in (Fraser et al 2004 pg 42) states that including child participants in research as respondents or interviewers raises legal dilemmas and ethical issues about children's rights and the obligation of those carrying out the research. According to Masson there is a strong relationship between the law and ethics, but not all that is legal can be said to be ethical. Ethical practices seek to reach a higher plane than merely attaining legality. Having first ensured that what they plan is legal, researchers must then ensure that the research achieves the ethical standards which are

  • Word count: 2333
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Genetics and environment: inseparable when discussing criminality.

Genetics and environment: inseparable when discussing criminality. Criminality is an ancient behaviour that appears with the civilization of the human being. Indeed even though one can measure aggression and violence in animals it could never be associated to criminality, for this concept involves the notion of law and moral that one transgresses. This is why criminality just as a concept could never be a purely biological outcome, because its roots are founded in society and thus in environment. When studying such a subject one must remember that we are discussing a social problem as well as a psychological problem and a biological one. Indeed we are going to discuss that different biological causes lead to criminality or predispose someone to it, then we will discuss the environmental factors. When discussing the genetics of criminality one must first specify what kind of criminality is in question. Indeed it would be hard to talk about the possible genetic inference in fraudulent behaviour. This is why we want to make a differentiation between violent criminality and non violent criminality. We are going to discuss the possibility of genes having some influence in criminality because "though the belief that single genetics defects produce criminal behaviour is untenable, behaviour is regarded as an emergent function of physical systems and brain activity which provides

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Within late modernity, boundaries between adults and children have become even more contested" (Matthews et al. 2000). Discuss this quote, exploring the ways in which children are represented as becoming less child-like.

A popular field of study in sociology involves the transition of childhood into adulthood where sociologists are keen to explore the rate at which children are becoming less 'child-like' together with the increasing diminishment of childhood completely. An evident shift in the notion of 'childhood' has taken place in the past decade resulting in the breakdown of the boundaries between adulthood and childhood. Whilst a number of researchers including Postman (1983) and Winn (1984) argue that certain variables in today's society, such as technology, are facilitating the obliteration of 'childhood', this viewpoint is hotly disputed by a range of writers including Papert (1993) who instead suggest that technology is a means of children's liberation. This has lead to an ongoing debate where sociologists are deliberating the area within which the line falls between childhood and adulthood. The omnipresence of children has existed in society across both time and space; however the concept of 'childhood' is nevertheless a relatively recent phenomenon that arose within the seventeenth century. According to Aries (1960/1994), the Middle Ages held no collective perception of children as being essentially different to anyone else. He stated that once a child could "live without the constant solitude of his mother" he then "belonged to adult society". Children were seen and treated as

  • Word count: 2575
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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What Is Hard Determinism?

What Is Hard Determinism? There are several viewpoints which consider whether we are free when making decisions and taking courses of action. One of these perspectives is hard determinism. J. Mackie described hard determinism as: 'The view that all actions are explicable in terms of their causes and are therefore inevitable' (J. Mackie) This outlines the basic idea that no action or decision is free. This is based upon the notion that for an action to happen there are a series of factors that ensure the occurrence of that action: '...all our choices, decisions, intentions, other mental events, and our actions are no more than effects of other necessitated events' (T. Honderich) Therefore we are not free to act as we wish due to our actions being determined previously by prior events. As Ekstrom suggested, apparent forking paths appear in life, which seem to give us our own choice, however we are conditioned to take the path we choose by such factors as our upbringing and culture, so our choice is not one of our own but rather that of conditioning. For example, a simple action such as choosing what to wear in the morning may appear on the surface a 'free' choice but on closer inspection it is not at all. We are all affected initially by our social and environmental background; taking into account current trends, our peers and even the environment and activities of the

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Criminals are born not made. Discuss.

Criminals are born not made. Discuss. A criminal is defined as someone who has committed a crime. Psychologists have come up with many theories and reasons about why people commit crimes. The two main explanations lie in genetic and environmental factors, which relates to the nature and nurture debate. Studies have been carried out to explain criminal behaviour. Some suggest that criminals are born, these are, twin studies (Bartol 1998), Family Studies (Farrington 1991) and a study by Jacobs et al (1965) who compared chromosomes. On the other hand there are also studies that have been conducted to prove that criminals are made by society. Bandura et al, social learning theory accounts for this and also Virkkumen (1986) who looked at biochemistry and Becker 1963 who studied labelling behaviour. These are examples I will use to support both sides of the argument to determine whether criminals are born or made. There is information that suggests that there are genetic explanations for crime and that it runs through families of criminals. An 'MZ apart' study has been conducted were two monozygotic children have been brought up apart. If both children turn out to be criminals then it supports the genetic explanation. The average concordance rate has been 55%. Mednick (1987) and Bohman (1995) looked at court convictions and criminal records of 14,000 people and their biological

  • Word count: 854
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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