Why are some youth more likely to think of themselves as a science kind of person than others? In this paper, we use a cognitive social-theoretical framework to assess disparities in science identity among middle school-age youth in the United States. We investigate how discovery orientation is associated with science interest, perceived ability, importance, and reflected appraisal, and how they are related to whether youth see themselves, and perceive that others see them, as a science kind of person. We surveyed 441 students in an ethnically diverse, low-income middle school. Gender and race/ethnicity are associated with science identity but not with discovery orientation. Structural equation model results show that the positive association between discovery orientation and science identity is mediated by science interest, importance, and reflected appraisal. These findings advance understanding of how science attitudes and recognition may contribute to the underrepresentation of girls and/or minorities in science.

Americans have positive views of adoption, yet many never consider adoption. This study examined characteristics that predict whether women ever consider adoption as a pathway to motherhood using an analytic sample of 876 childless women from the National Survey of Fertility Barriers. Using Risman's theory of gender as a social structure as a framework, we focused on the role of the importance of motherhood and infertility in predicting adoption consideration. Women who held higher levels of importance of motherhood and engaged in medical help-seeking for infertility were more likely to consider adoption at both the bivariate and multivariate levels. Women currently considering adoption were more likely to have seen a doctor for infertility, to have a high importance of motherhood, to be African American, and were generally older. Longitudinal research is needed to evaluate how views of adoption and the importance of motherhood change over time for individual women.

This article presents a quasi-experimental study of a mindfulness-based intervention for traumatically bereaved individuals using a single group with pre-test and post-test design. The intervention consists of the ATTEND model, which is comprised of the following elements practiced by the clinician: attunement, trust, therapeutic touch, egalitarianism, nuance, and death education. The study is based on the charts of 42 clients seeking grief counseling at a mental health agency viewed retrospectively. Participants' intake scores on the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), which measures trauma symptoms, and 25-item Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL-25), which measures depressive and anxious symptoms, were compared to their scores after an average of 14.64 hours of counseling. Paired samples t tests showed a statistically significant decline in trauma symptoms on the IES-R, and in anxious and depressive symptoms on the HSCL-25. These results provide preliminary support for the use of this mindfulness-based approach for difficulties associated with traumatic bereavement, though more extensive research is needed to determine the effectiveness of this approach.