Disadvantaged

About: Disadvantaged is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 17050 publications have been published within this topic receiving 337157 citations. The topic is also known as: disadvantaged person.

'Social Mixing' and the Management of Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods: The Dutch Policy of Urban Restructuring Revisited

Abstract: Summary. The Dutch government currently pursues a comprehensive and ambitious policy of ‘social mixing’ in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. The second section of this paper suggests that it has as yet not been adequately explained why the Dutch government pursues this so-called restructuring policy. The third section develops an approach derived from regulation theory that potentially helps to decipher the forces behind the Dutch restructuring policy. It is argued that planning practices and discourses should be analysed in relation to the dynamics of the regulatory framework in which they are embedded. The remainder of the paper uses this approach to give an alternative account of the Dutch restructuring policy, suggesting that it represents an attempt to facilitate the social management of disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Thus, it serves to mitigate the social effects of the problematic integration of ethnic minorities and facilitates a national city-oriented growth strategy.

Psychological resilience in disadvantaged youth: A critical overview

Abstract: This paper provides a critical review of research into the notion of psychological resilience and its implications for studies of disadvantaged young people. A number of significant conceptual and methodological challenges are examined, the most important of these being the difficulties associated with the operationalisation of resilience, the development of culturally relevant thresholds and the circularity inherent in commonly used definitions. The limitations and potential value of integrated theoretical models, such as Brofenbrenner's ecological model and Bandura's self-efficacy theory are considered, along with suggestions for methodological strategies to enhance the validity and comprehensiveness of resilience research.

Retaining Quality Teachers

Abstract: This study investigated teacher attrition and retention in seven Virginia school divisions representing urban, suburban, and rural localities. Focus group interviews of teachers who stay in their school divisions and telephone interviews of teachers who migrated to another school division or who left the teaching profession revealed a hierarchy of organizational influences on teacher attrition and retention. A menu of state, district and building level recommendations are offered for retaining quality teachers. Introduction and Review of the Literature At this time, when the need for good teachers and good teaching is unprecedented, America is experiencing a shortage of qualified individuals prepared to take on the challenges of the profession, particularly in critical shortage areas, such as math and science or special education. Moreover, there is continuing concern that professionals are leaving the teaching field much earlier in their careers than are professionals from other fields. The National Center for Education Statistics (1997c) reports that across the nation 9.3% of public school teachers leave before they complete their first year in the classroom and over 1/5 of public school teachers leave their positions within their first three years of teaching. Additionally, nearly 30% of teachers leave the profession within five years of entry and even higher attrition rates exist in more disadvantaged schools (Delgado, 1999; Darling-Hammond, 1999). Ingersoll (1998) concludes that it is a mistake to assume that hiring difficulties are the result of teacher shortages in the conventional sense of the availability of candidates willing to enter the profession. The demand for new teachers comes about primarily because teachers choose to move from or leave their jobs at far higher rates than do professionals in many other occupations (NCES, 1998). "We're misdiagnosing the problem as `recruitment' when it's really `retention'" (Merrow, 1999, p. 64). In the fifth Phi Delta Kappa poll of teachers' attitudes toward the public schools, findings revealed that more teachers today say their schools have trouble retaining teachers (Langdon, 1999). Most of the studies on teacher attrition and retention focus largely on teachers' personal characteristics. Ingersoll (2001), however, found that school characteristics and organizational conditions, including lack of administrative support, salary, student discipline and motivation, class size, inadequate planning time, and lack of opportunity for advancement, have significant effects on teacher turnover, even after controlling for the characteristics of both teachers and schools. School districts do exercise influence over several internal factors in the teacher attrition and retention puzzle. For both beginning and veteran teachers, issues in the work environment may provide the impetus for teachers leaving the profession. The large numbers of students assigned to classrooms, limited instructional resources, and the inability to meet students' needs (Billingsley & Cross, 1992) have been associated with teacher attrition. Futrel] (1999) describes the frustration that many teachers feel because of the "rigid, bureaucratic hierarchy in which teachers are treated like tall children rather than like professionals" (p. 31). A lack of authority in making decisions about curriculum, assessment, scheduling, and policy leads both experienced and novice teachers to doubt their professional status. Snider (1999) asserts that many new teachers are demoralized by the lack of autonomy and professional status they find in the schools and "as many as one-half of all new teachers respond by leaving the profession" (p. 64). Work environment clearly leads to levels of teacher job satisfaction. Researchers have linked a number of aspects of job satisfaction to teacher retention, and there is general agreement that all of these aspects are a part of the teacher retention puzzle. …

Intergroup relations and health disparities: a social psychological perspective.

Abstract: Objective: This article considers how the social psychology of intergroup processes helps to explain the presence and persistence of health disparities between members of socially advantaged and disadvantaged groups. Method: Social psychological theory and research on intergroup relations, including prejudice, discrimination, stereotyping, stigma, prejudice concerns, social identity threat, and the dynamics of intergroup interactions, is reviewed and applied to understand group disparities in health and health care. Potential directions for future research are considered. Results: Key features of group relations and dynamics, including social categorization, social hierarchy, and the structural positions of groups along dimensions of perceived warmth and competence, influence how members of high status groups perceive, feel about, and behave toward members of low status groups, how members of low status groups construe and cope with their situation, and how members of high and low status groups interact with each other. These intergroup processes, in turn, contribute to health disparities by leading to differential exposure to and experiences of chronic and acute stress, different health behaviors, and different quality of health care experienced by members of advantaged and disadvantaged groups. Within each of these pathways, social psychological theory and research identifies mediating mechanisms, moderating factors, and individual differences that can affect health. Conclusions: A social psychological perspective illuminates the intergroup, interpersonal, and intrapersonal processes by which structural circumstances which differ between groups for historical, political, and economic reasons can lead to group differences in health.