This master thesis examines sport habits among young people and a view of their future in sports. Research has shown that the majority of youth leave sport clubs during adolescence. The thesis questions were: How physically active are young people? Which sports do they practice? Regarding their future in sports, what kind of aspirations do the young people have? Are there any barriers that could complicate their involvement in these activities? These questions were examined by analyzing if there were any differences between boys and girls, youth in different grades and youth with Swedish or foreign backgrounds. Pierre Bourdieu´s theoretical framework about sports and economic capital has been used as a research framework.

Author: Madeleine Ahlström and Hanna PuontiTitle: To meet the invisible population - A qualitative study of men with deliberate self-injury [Att möta de osynliga - En kvalitativ studie om killar med självskadebeteende]Supervisor: Anders ÖstnäsAssessor: Jan Petersson This study aims to provide a picture of the underlying causes why men deliberately hurt themselves. It also aims to provide a picture revolving how men self-harm and what the direct effects are from their self-harm. The study describes their behaviour and how the behaviour has evolved over time. There is also a focus in the study to illustrate how society´s operative approach towards men makes their self-harm invisible, and make them an invisible population that neither the scientists nor the general population chooses to see. Self-injury is strongly associated with girls and their way of harming themselves.

Sports research in the field of social science has shown that regular physical activity leads to wellbeing and positively affects the quality of life. A natural part of being an athlete is learning the functions of the human body, and what?s harmful and destructive, such as drugs (RF 1995). Doping is a constant problem in professional sport. Doping and manipulation of medical preparations in order to maximise performance is one of modern sport?s major problems, according to Blom and Lindroth (1995).I thought it would be interesting to see what the next generation of athletes thinks of doping.

The aim of this study was to examine which norms are applicable and how they are reproduced in two sports organisations. More specifically the aim was to find out how the leaders worked with gender roles and what message the organisations give out to young people. And at the same time, find out if there are similarities and differences between two different organisations, regarding norms and gender roles.  The study was based on observations and interviews. The observations were made during and after training in an ice hockey team and two gymnastic teams for girls nine to thirteen years old. The interviews were conducted with seven leaders and one senior ice-hockey player.

The aim of this study was to examine how the interviewed teachers in one school observe their view of gender and equality regarding the educational system.  Accordingly, I would like to present my intention with this study, also be to analyze how the interviewed teachers way of working with matters of gender and equality, carry out as a portrait of their values considering the distribution in terms of gender. The research questions are the following: What is the teachers view on the concepts of equality and gender in school?How do different teachers talk about their way of working in relation to gender and equality in school?How is boys and girls images presented in the teachers descriptions in their discussion about gender and equality?This study is based on a fundamental qualitative method, where a handful number of teacher?s from one school were interviewed in order to obtain information and data for the examination. The interviews were analyzed and discussed in association to earlier research in aspiration to study different writer?s theories about the conception of gender and equality.

Background: Today when leisure time is spent, spontaneous sports activities decrease, due to a more comfortable way of living and physical capacity among non active adolescents decreases. There for it´s interesting to see how the physical capacity level has changed over time among young people participating in organized leisure time sports.Studies around the world show that young people standing outside organized sport activities have tended to decrease their physical activity levels over the last few decades. Less leisure time is spent doing physical activity and sometimes gets put into context with increased time spent behind the computer or inactivity.Design: A retrospective study of the test results on physical capacity between 1982 and 2009 for students applying to Växjö track and field high school. A total of 635 students (15 years old) have done 11 physical tests during the years. Five of these tests, with enough participants (at least 100) and documentation over at least 10 years, were used in this study.Results: This study shows that young track and field athletes have maintained the same physical capacity from 1982 to 2009.

Introduction: Sleep disorders are an increasingly growing public health problem. InSweden, the last decade's increase in sleep problems was greatest among younger agegroups. Studies show association between the use of communication media and sleepinghabits. Objective: The aim is to map sleep habits and use of communication mediumamong adolescents and to study associations between them. Method: The study isbased on a previously collected survey data among high school students (18-21 years)from a coastal town in southern Sweden.

Background: It is common that children and adolecsents with Aspergers syndrome have impaired motor skills and are less physically active than neurotypical children and adolecsents. Studies conducted on neurotypical children shows that children and adolecsents who are regular physical active also have a good motor control and a good physical self-esteem. The purpose of this study was to investigate the physical self-esteem of children and adolescents with Aspergers syndrome. Study Group: 36 children and adolescents aged 9-15 years with a diagnosis of Aspergers syndrome was asked to participate in the survey. 18 children, 16 boys and 2 girls, responded to the questionnarie about physical self-esteem which 17 of the answers could be used in the study.

The aim of this study is to, from a child?s family relations, describe the usage of terms relating to factors of risk and safety in science and in investigations concerning children in need of protection. It is also of importance in what way the terms are used when the Social Services suggest that measures should be taken, and in which way the children have been heard in the investigations.The issues raised in this study are: (a) How is the current life situation and life quality of the children discussed? (b) The value of factors concerning risks and protection. (c) How is the children?s own descriptions taken in to consideration? (d) Is gender issues considered? (e) How is Lagerberg?s model (Lagerberg, 1998) useful in investigations?The method of analysis is mainly qualitative however it is combined with analysis of literature relevant to the study.

The purpose of this Masters thesis is to examine how gender patterns are described in the modern picture book. Focus is on the description of men and women and their emotions and living conditions. Do the descriptions follow stereotypes in the form of binary opposites strong/weak, active/passive etc. in which one component of the pair, often associated with masculinity, is privileged or are there examples of breach of normative gender? The analysis is based upon forty of 149 picture books that are presented in a children's book catalogue published by The Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs Statens kulturråd, in the year of 2000.

This study is of a qualitative phenomenological approach. Its background lies in recent reports that show the problem of self-harm increasing among adolescents. The intent of the study was to highlight school counselors? view of self-harm, and their experiences of meeting self-harm through their work. Six school counselors, all employed in secondary school, have participated in semi-structured interviews.

The purpose of this study is to find out how Swedish Muslim girls use Facebook and its functions in constructing their Muslim identity on the platform. The study is based on a qualitative method which consists of nine interviews with Swedish Muslim girls between the ages 17-23 and who use Facebook daily.The study is based on the view of Facebook as a scene where individuals can perform for an audience. I have used Erving Coffman?s dramaturgical perspective that explains why individuals appear in an appropriate manner to achieve confirmation from their audience. I also used theories about identity construction, community and the theory about how individuals create a social presence online.

This essay discusses the students? thoughts about the teacher's response to their gender identity. The students discuss their right to have an intergender identity which means that they don?t identify themselves in the traditional sexes, man and woman, and the gender role each category has. They want to be called with a neutral pronoun and not be seen like boys or girls.

Sexual risk-taking among teenagers has rapidly increased and only during the last decade the existence of Chlamydia has more than tripled. The future is facing big challenges to cope with the problem. Though the big efforts made on preventive work, Chlamydia continues to spread. The study aims to examine the existing attitudes towards sexual risk-taking among teenagers. The central mode of procedure is to use qualitative focus group interviews, and is complemented with a quantitative survey. A total of 30 teenagers, 15 boys and 15 girls, age 16-20, are participating from three different high schools in Gothenburg.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka vilka faktorer som påverkar flickors och pojkarssjälvkänsla i skolan, samt att finna eventuella genusskillnader. En kvantitativ metod i form aven enkätundersökning användes, där eleverna i årskurs 8 på en högstadieskola i VästraGötalands län deltog. Studien visar att flickorna har lägre självkänsla än pojkarna i skolan.Flickorna skattar sin egen kunskapsnivå lägre än pojkarna, trots att de har högre betyg änpojkarna. Flickor har svårare än pojkar att få fram sina åsikter i skolan. Flickor tycker det ärsvårare än pojkar att prata i helklass.