The Exploring Masculinities Programme (EM) was developed and piloted in 19 boy’s schools in Ireland during 1997-1999, with funding from the European Social Fund. The programme aimed, amongst other things to investigate different perceptions and experiences of masculinity and to promote equality among and between the sexes. Following the launch of the programme, EM was the subject of a considerable amount of media coverage, which was mainly critical of the programme. Amongst the most vocal critics of EM were certain parent groups and a number of journalists. In this context, the Minister for Education and Science commissioned the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) to conduct an examination of, amongst other things, the media reaction to EM. The planned dissemination of the programme lost its momentum and in 2005, EM was only being used as a resource in a small number of schools. The current study aims to establish the views and attitudes of Irish parents and a sample of journalists towards the treatment of masculinity related issues with young men at senior cycle. There were four phases to the research. Phase one consisted of a survey of a national sample of parents. Phase two involved interviews with twenty-four of these parents. Phase three consisted of surveys with representatives of the five national parent associations in Ireland. The fourth phase of the research involved interviews with four journalists who had participated in the media debate on EM, together with the Project Coordinator of the programme. The study found that the majority of parents (both the national sample of parents and members of the various parent associations) viewed the primary purpose of education as the holistic development of the child rather than the attainment of Leaving Certificate points. The majority of parents were in favour of the inclusion of EM topics on the school curriculum due to the fact that EM issues were of relevance to young men, with parents suggesting that schools currently are not doing enough to deal with issues such as homophobic bullying. While support for the inclusion of EM issues was high, concerns were expressed by parents. These concerns related to, for example, whether lessons on EM issues would be based on Catholic values; whether teachers had received sufficient development on such issues and whether young men were mature enough to deal with these issues at senior cycle. While two of the journalists viewed the school as playing an important role in the exploration of masculinities with young men at senior cycle, the remainder questioned such involvement. Concerns were raised by the journalists in relation to the ideologies underpinning EM, particularly in relation to the concept of gender as a social construct and the perceived underlining feminist ideology. Based on this, the journalists viewed the programme as selective in nature and imbalanced in its treatment of certain issues. Additional concerns related to the lack of consultation with relevant agencies and individuals during the development of EM. The project coordinator of EM, Peadar King, supported the journalists’ views that the writing group were too narrow in their focus and did not engage sufficiently with other agencies or personnel. However, he questioned their perception of EM as anti-male and tendentiousness in nature. Both parents and journalists advanced some possible suggestions on how EM issues could be examined in the future. Possible suggestions included the adoption of a cross-curricular approach and the inclusion of a positive discourse on masculinity. It was proposed that such issues would be best addressed by an expert external to the school and through the use of active learning methodologies. The importance of related teacher development and adopting a consultative process when developing curriculum for social and personal programmes were also stressed. The findings from the study raise a number of questions in relation to Irish post-primary schooling. For example, how can the differing views of parents be accommodated in relation to whether school-based social and personal programmes are taught within a Catholic framework? What alterations can be made to the current process of curriculum development in Ireland so that new curriculum initiatives do not experience as much controversy as EM and how can the specific social and personal needs of young men be met within senior cycle education?

The main aim of the present study was to investigate the factors which contribute to teasing/bullying among children with CLP.  A previous study identified that children with similar types of CLP are not uniformly teased/bullied.  Seventy-five children took part in the study with their parent/guardian on two occasions, therefore the study was a longitudinal investigation using a repeated measures design.  The average time between data collection points was 8 months.  Children completed a teasing/bullying questionnaire and a number of psychological instruments measuring anxiety, self-esteem, depressive mood and behaviour problems. The children also took part in a semi-structured interview schedule specially designed for the present study.  The interview addressed issues specific to children with CLP which are not addressed by any currently available standardised measures.  A parent/guardian of each child completed a parenting stress questionnaire. The results revealed a higher prevalence of at least 16% more teasing/bullying among children with CLP compared to the general population. Teasing/bullying decreased with age among children with CLP. The relationship between teasing/bullying at primary school and increased levels of psychological problems was also identified, although scores were not within the clinical range overall. The role of the parent in developing healthy appearance and speech-related emotion regulation among younger children was identified as a protective factor against teasing/bullying. Recommendations for clinical application relate to the role of healthcare professionals providing care for children with CLP. Clinicians are required to provide support and teasing/bullying related information to children and parents. Part of their new role is also to increase links with the school to help reduce teasing/bullying.

Objective: Little is known about health-related behaviours and their co-occurrence among male adolescents in Saudi Arabia. The main purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of health related behaviours, and to investigate the associations between socio-demographic variables and health related behaviours and the clustering of health risk behaviours. Research Methods: A cross-sectional study using a self-completion anonymous questionnaire was undertaken between February and April, 2008. A stratified random sample of 1501 male adolescents was recruited from one private and public high school in each of the five districts in the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Main Outcome Measures: Prevalence and associations between health, social and demographic factors and health-related behaviours, including dietary behaviours, oral health, physical activity, smoking, violence, injuries and safety, and mental health factors. Results: The results of this study showed that only 24.2% and 39.9% of the students consumed fruit and vegetables on a daily basis (at least once every day), and only 7% and 13.7% ate fruit and vegetables 3 times or more every day. Also, only 52.4% consumed dairy products at least once every day and only 18.3% of the students consumed dairy products 3 times or more every day. 48.1% reported to not consume any fish products on any day of the week. About 48.7%, 60.2% and 25.2% of the students consumed sweets, soft drinks, and energy drinks at least once every day. The results of this study also showed that only 36.7% of students eat breakfast regularly (? 5 days per week). Eating breakfast regularly was positively associated with lower age, liking school, good academic performance, not eating high fat food every day, drinking soft drinks ? 1 time/day, drinking milk every day, low BMI, brushing teeth every day, physical activity ? 3 days/week, and not engaging in physical fights. Around half (51.3%) participants reported good teeth health status, 22.6% brushed their teeth two times daily, 29.7% brushed their teeth once daily, whereas 47.7% of the subjects do not brush their teeth daily and 54.3% never visited the dentist during the past year. About 29.5% of participants suffered teeth pain sometimes or most of the time and 16.4% missed some school days for this reason. Brushing teeth every day was positively associated with higher standards of parental education, attending private school, living district, good academic performance, liking school, visiting dentist during the last year, good teeth status, and not suffering from teeth pain. Only 18.4% of the students were physically active and only 65.2% participated in physical activity classes in schools. Regular physical activity was positively associated with younger age, liking school, good health status, lower BMI, father’s, mother’s, siblings’ and peers’ physical activity, not smoking, not fighting, not wanting to use drugs or alcohol, and not feeling lonely. Over a third (36.3%) of the participants were overweight or obese. A fifth (20.8%) of the adolescents were current smokers. 20.8% of the students were current smokers. Smoking among students was positively associated with higher age, studying in private school, poor health status, poor school performance, not liking school, father smoking, mother smoking, sibling smoking, peers smoking, low physical activity, wanting to use drugs and alcohol, carrying weapons, fighting, performing car drifting, and being abused by teachers. ii Over half the sample (55.5%) reported an injury, 21.8% had been threatened or injured by weapons. Just under half (49%) of the adolescents reported they were involved in a physical fight. Moreover, fighting among students was positively associated with the interaction of low parental education, not liking school, poor academic performance, skipping breakfast, low physical activity, current smoking, being threatened or injured by weapons, carrying weapons, joining people performing car drifting, bullying others, being abused by teachers. Carrying weapons during the last 30 days was reported by 36.6% of the sample. Carrying weapons was positively associated with higher age, not liking school, poor academic performance, current smoking, fighting, being threatened or injured by weapons, performing car drifting, joining people performing car drifting, taking part in bullying others, and being abused by family. Some (26.1%) of participants reported having been bullied and 24.6% of the students reported bullying others. Many of the adolescents reported being abused by a family member (34.4%) or one of their school teachers (39.5%) during the past 12 months preceding the survey. During this time period, many of the students reported feeling lonely (22.8%), feeling very worried about something that they could not sleep at night sometimes or more (27.0%), and feeling very sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more (40%). About 14% of the participants in this study reported that they had wanted to use alcohol or drugs. A small but notable proportion (13.9%) of the participants reported that they had thought of attempting suicide and 6.9% had actually attempted suicide. Over a third (36.1%) of adolescents had performed car drifting 12 months preceding the survey. However, car drifting was positively associated with higher age, attending a private school, not liking school, poor academic performance, not brushing teeth every day, current smoking, wanting to use drugs and alcohol, carrying weapons, joining people who performing car drifting, bullying others, and attempting suicide. The majority (78.7%) of participants drove vehicles and 96% and 97.7% reported that they did not use a seat belt when doing so and did not use a seat belt when riding in a car as a passenger, respectively. Only 2.1% and 1.4% of participants wore a helmet when used motorized vehicle or nonmotorized. Conclusions and implications: The results of this study reveal that the adolescents engage in multiple health-risk behaviours, and these risk behaviours are relatively common among adolescents and cluster together. Health related behaviours are associated with several socio-demographic variables (age, father’s and mother’s education, school factors, health status and living districts), although not necessarily in the same order. However, the data emphasized the need for further quantitative and indepth qualitative research throughout Saudi Arabia, including other cities, rural communities, female adolescents, and other Middle Eastern countries. Cross-sectional research to gather evidence on youth health to collect population-based data on a range of health-related behaviours along with physical and social environments amongst school-age students and out-of-school youth facilities are important and highly needed to investigate health-related behaviours and associated risk factors and to measure change over time.

Building on a small body of research, the present study explores the perceptions of teaching staff about their work with Gypsy, Roma, Traveller (GRT) children and young people. Specifically the research is concerned with participants’ views about the relationship between GRT children and schools in relation to attainment, social inclusion, the GRT culture and lifestyle and wider systemic factors. Existing literature and research about the educational experiences of GRT children and young people is explored. Situated within a critical realist epistemology, the present study utilises semi-structured interviews with 13 members of teaching staff across five schools in Greenshire County Council (pseudonym). Transcripts were subjected to thematic analysis following the model proposed by Braun and Clarke (2006). Six superordinate themes (educational outcomes; barriers to education; GRT parents; social inclusion; cultural dissonance and inclusive practices) were identified. Findings are explored in relation to previous research. One key finding concerns the views participants expressed about GRT children’s reports of bullying or racism. Implications for practice and future research are considered.

Despite abundant literature about bullying, previous research has predominantly focussed upon the characteristics of those who bully, peer influences in bullying and anti-bullying interventions, with little acknowledgement of how young people who bully and their counsellors experience counselling. This research seeks to address the gap by asking; how well young people who bully feel able to express themselves to their counsellor, and what facilitates or inhibits the therapeutic relationship for both counsellors and young people who bully? These research questions derive both from existing literature and my profession as a counsellor of young people who bully. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), data were gathered using focus groups and semi-structured interviews with a sample consisting of six participants representing four young people and two counsellors. In IPA, the researcher’s use of self is equally implicated in the collection and analysis of data (Smith & Osborn, 2003); consequently, my dual identity as counsellor and researcher has asserted differing perspectives. The three superordinate themes identified in the current study focus upon attachment states (Bowlby, 1977, 1988), the therapeutic relationship, and the influence of emotional management upon counsellors. Trust and risk emerged as pervading concerns for the young people and have been integrated into discussion of the superordinate themes. The research received favourable ethical opinion from the Faculty of Health and Medical Science (FHMS) ethics committee. Findings suggest that young people who bully experience insecurities which manifest as mistrust, inhibiting the relationship with their counsellor. It also appears that a counsellor’s life experiences and occupational identity variously affect the therapeutic relationship. Individual counselling may not be a panacea but I recommend that if undertaken expertly, it has potential. Future research could focus upon confidentiality where equivocal standards are confusing for young people who bully.