This Masters thesis aims at investigating how 15-year old girls use the Internet, particularly on their free time, taking a source critical perspective. It includes group interviews. The main question of this thesis was whether there is a need for specific user education. The following four questions were asked: What do they do on the Internet during their free time? In what way do the girls learn how to interact with each other on the Internet? How do they relate to different types of web pages and materials from a source critical aspect? What content do they consider to be relevant in a user education? The study is mainly focused on information use and information behaviour in different contexts.

Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att undersöka hur genus - vårt socialt skapade kön skapas i en musikpedagogisk verksamhet. Finns det någon skillnad mellan pojkar och flickors intresse i ämnet musik, val av instrument eller agerande i undervisningen? Hur bemöter eleverna varandra, hur bemöter läraren eleverna och tvärtom ur ett genusperspektiv? Studien utfördes på en grundskola i klasserna sju och nio med hjälp av observationsmetoden och videokamera. Resultaten visade på skillnad mellan könen genom att pojkarna generellt dominerade musiklektionen genom att prata, bråka och ta mer uppmärksamhet än flickorna. Undervisningens innehåll och lektionstid blev kraftigt negativt påverkad då lärarens uppmärksamhet riktades åt pojkarnas bråk.

This thesis investigates the underlying factors behind sexual risk-taking and non-risk-taking behavior with regard to Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) among adolescents in Lusaka, Zambia. The Qualitative Approach was used for data collection and analysis and using the theory of Social Construction, the author explains how different contexts and aspects in the Zambian Society, that is Traditional, Socio-economic, Political, etc., influence the sexuality or sexual behavior of young people in Zambia. Hermeneutics was used to interpret the meanings in the texts/transcripts acquired through data collection and from the author?s knowledge and understanding of the Zambian historical and cultural contexts within which the participants of the research were constructed. Max Weber?s Ideal Type concept was also used to explain that each young individual?s sexual behavior is uniquely constructed by societal aspects.

The aim of this study is to examine how girls from the discussion group "Coolt med koll" understand the phenomenon honor-related violence. The study is based upon three issues; how do our informants understand honor-related violence, where do the interviewed obtain information concerning honor-related violence and how do it affect their point of view, last but not least what do the girls know regarding children?s rights. The theoretical points of this study are theories about honor-related living conditions and radical feminist theory. The study is carried out through six semi-structured qualitative interviews, which all are conducted separately.

The purpose of this study was to examine if there are gender differences in computer use among the young. Our aim was to find out in what respects boys and girls differ, if at all. The main method of investigation is a literature review. We have also made a complementary empirical study in a public library. The literature studied principally covers computer use at home and in school.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate the construction of sexuality in Swedish school libraries through the lens of Foucault?s concept of power/knowledge. Five libraries were investigated, using two kinds of method: discourse analysis of titles, classification codes and subject headings of sex education materials, and qualitative interviews with librarians working at each of the libraries. Most sex education materials were classified within the medicine section, illustrating the continued authority of medical discourse in matters concerning sexuality. Books for younger audiences were often written for either boys or girls, reproducing a binary understanding of gender.

The thesis examines how sex/gender and sexuality are represented through text and images within the Internet community Sylvia whose primary target group is girls. Through an examination of the aesthetics, the member rules and the choices that constitute the framework for the site, the study observes Sylvia as a cultural context. In relation to this setting, the ten most visited member profiles at the time for the study are more closely examined. These profiles are studied from a constructivist view of sex/gender and are analysed from the perspective of feminist and quee r theory as well as in the light of feministic debates concerning sexuality and erotica. The thesis shows how Internet as a forum and the non-heterosexual context Sylvia open up for a constructivist understanding of sex/gender and also leads to a questioning of "masculinity" and "femininity".

The purpose of the present essay, as part of the project Self esteem and Life circumstances among teenagers, was to investigate the rate of both deliberate self-harm (DSH) and risk behaviour related to eating disorders in 14-year-old swedish adolescents, gender differences in DSH, and possible correlations between DSH and risk behaviours related to eating disorder. In addition, the effects of expressive writing (Pennebaker & Beall, 1986) on DSH and risk behaviours related to eating disorders were investigated. Data from two pilot studies are included. In total, 198 14-year-olds from four different schools in southern Sweden participated. For the purpose of measuring the rate of DSH, a simplified version of Gratz's (2001) Deliberate Self-Harm Inventory (DSHI) was used.

The oral sensory ability in children can be assessed through test of intraoral stereognosis and two-point discrimination. Currently, these two tests are not frequently used in clinical settings, and normative data are not always available. The aim of this study was to establish normative data for these two tests in children aged 5;6 to 7;0 years. Further, intention was to compare the results with respect to age and gender. In total 103 children participated, 49 boys and 54 girls.

Human Papilloma virus (HPV) can lead to cervical cancer, a common form of cancer in Sweden and globally. A vaccine has been developed for the most carcinogenic strains of HPV. In Sweden it is planned that the vaccine be included in the public national vaccination program for children. The aim of this study was to illustrate attitudes towards future sexual habits and preventive cervical cancer screening among young women and parents of girls vaccinated against HPV. This study is a part of a larger project where interviews with young women aged 17 to 26 years and parents of girls aged 13 to 17 years compose the foundation.

This essay deals with children?s and adolescents? use of interactive media as a tool for doing relations with each other. The purpose is to increase the understanding of the impact interactive media has on pupils? relations and identity development both in school and on their spare time. The school system?s mission is not only to teach formal knowledge and facts but also to train children?s social skills and abilities.

Gross motor skills among Swedish pupils. An overview of functional motor abilities among Swedish children and adolescents.IntroductionPhysical Education (PE) teachers in Sweden have noticed that pupils are getting worse in their ability to manage gross motor skills and in their aerobic practice. The gross motor skills and coordinative skills are the solid ground for sports and other health activities. If not developing their gross motor skill children tends to avoid taking part in games and sports. The benefits of sports and outdoor activities such as social and health benefits can therefore be missed.

This study is about language use in text messaging. In this study there are 338 text messages: 206 of them written by girls and 132 written by boys. The informants in the study are 16 years old and they live in the countryside on the outskirts of a small town in southern Sweden. The purpose of this study was to investigate characteristic linguistic features in the messages, in order to determine what significant meaning an emoticon such as a smiley brings to a text and further, to explore what speech acts smileys occur in.The results show that the language in the messages is a mix of spoken and written language. The characteristic features that were found in the messages were short sentences, onomatopoetic expressions, words written in capital letters, English expressions and use of smileys.

The main aim of this essay was to find out what kind of advantages and/or disadvantages giving marks in pupils order and behaviour can cause for their development of knowledge and emotional and social skills. We let teachers answer a questionnaire about giving marks in pupils order and behaviour. We have also interviewed one person that was involved to prepare the latest curriculum in 1994, Lpo 94, and they decided that Swedish teachers do not have the right competence to judge ones order or behaviour. We have also looked at different theories about: mark as motivation, mark as information, mark as control, self-fulfilling prophecy, emotional disorders and gender, with whom we analyse the fact to give marks in order and behaviour.What we can establish is that giving marks in pupils order and behaviour seems to bring more disadvantages than advantages. Boys mature later than girls and have there for, in general, not as good behaviour as the girls have in the classroom.

The ?good girl? is today an accepted and widespread notion. It is delimited to young girls and women who are characterised to be, for example, ambitious, high performing, working too much and risks developing mental illnesses. In today?s society women are assumed to pursue their career alongside maintaining the main responsibility for the household and family.