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One third of undergraduate students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities are considered nontraditional as defined by the single criterion of being aged 25 years and older. Nontraditional students have significantly lower graduation rates than traditional students. Using a role theory perspective this mixed-methods study examines the factors influencing persistence among a sample of 494 nontraditional men and women undergraduates attending a large public university in the southeastern United States. In this study, persistence rates did not differ between men and women although the factors influencing persistence did. Grade point average and confidence in graduating positively influenced persistence for both men and women. Women enrolled part-time were more likely to persist than those enrolled full-time. Although interrole conflict leads many women to consider withdrawing from school, most do not. Instead they exhibit a will to persist that enables them to overcome obstacles and ultimately graduate.

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Undergraduate social science research methods courses tend to have higher than average rates of failure and withdrawal. Lack of success in these courses impedes students’ progression through their degree programs and negatively impacts institutional retention and graduation rates. Grounded in adult learning theory, this mixed methods study examines the factors that influence student achievement in these courses among a sample of 724 social science students. Quantitative results indicate math self-concept, the belief that being good at math is necessary for success in the course; anxiety; attributions of course utility; learning approach; and GPA predict perceived learning. Qualitative results suggest students’ research self-concepts shape whether they take a deep learning approach (leaning in) or a surface learning approach (resistance) to the course. Course instructors also impact students’ perceptions of learning.

The television series Sex and the City became an instant international hit from its 1998 debut on HBO throughout its final episode in 2004 and still remains popular through syndication and DVD sales and rentals. The series garnered widespread attention due to its explicit depiction and candid discussion of female sexuality. Sex and the City challenges commonly held cultural beliefs about what constitutes appropriate sexual desires and behaviors for women. According to sexual script theory, sexuality is not innate, but is learned through cultural messages. I performed a content analysis on the sexual scripts embedded in the series to determine if the sexual encounters of the characters were more likely to be relational or recreational. I also compared the characters' sexual behavior to that of respondents of an extensive survey of sexual practices in the US. The encounters of the characters were much more likely to be recreational than relational, and their sexual scripts differ significantly from behavior that women actually report practicing. Yet for all the promotion of equal opportunity sexual freedom, by series end, all four characters were engaged in committed relationships-''happily ever after'' endings for all! Keywords Sex and the City Á Sexual scripts Á Female sexuality Á Postfeminism Á Media studiesIn the first episode of the hugely successful HBO series, Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw, narrator, journalist, and self-proclaimed ''sexual anthropologist'', asks: Can women have sex like a man? What follows is a 6 year chronicle of the sexual adventures of four successful thirty-something single women in Manhattan. The comedy series has been widely hailed as ground-breaking in its explicit depiction